Eternally Bonded
by Draconos13
Summary: [BASED ON FIRE EMBLEM: FATES GAME, FOLLOWING "BIRTHRIGHT" STORYLINE] [FEMALE CORRIN USED] After the war, Corrin chose Hoshido over Nohr. The remnants of her Nohr family refuse to let go, especially one in particular. When that member takes desperate measures to figure out Corrin's true feelings, the young noblewoman must show, to herself and the world, how strong her love is.
1. Chapter 1: Lesons and Tests

**Hello there! It has been a long time since I posted any writing on this website, so I figured I would offer something different.**

** This is the first chapter of a story that I am working with someone to publish on another online writing website. The other chapters will be posted when they are completed, or soon after. I thought I could share the work here, as well.**

**This story will not have many chapters in it, and each chapter will have a lot of content in it.**

**Any constructive criticism and feedback you can provide on this would be good to see. Please enjoy as well!**

* * *

**Eternally Bonded**

**Chapter 1: Lessons and Tests**

Sunlight streams through a growing layer of clouds as wind lightly whips through the air. Trees bend their leaves and branches to the natural force, accepting it without confusion or resistance. The atmosphere can be judged by a simple mind as a beautiful day in the kingdom of Nohr. A more philosophical or academically-educated mind might attempt to divine a deeper meaning from the changing weather. But right now, the day is quite beautiful to them as well. Beautiful days are on the decline here, the weather being fickle and short-tempered at the best of times.

Farmers in the fields within the ringed walls of Windmire, soldiers in the famed Castle Krakenburg, merchants driving full carts between the walls for trade: everyone took a moment to appreciate the natural harmony. The world danced to its own tune on the stage of the universe, each piece seemingly in its place. Even the stone walls that separate the city's inhabitants seemed to embrace the harmony. Their defiance against the elements appeared to be a sign of power and strength rather than control and subjugation.

A new movement to the natural dance suddenly began in a small grassy space in a faraway space. It came from a distant, isolated fortress to the Northeast of Windmire. It is different, sharper, the beats not in a steady rhythm. Air was displaced with clashing notes, rises and falls echoed with a choir of grunts and heavy breaths. The observers of this new sound, standing by one of the fortress' walls, watch it play out without comment or interruption. The movement comes and goes as its makers, two armored women, duel with their instruments – sharpened rapiers with ornate golden handles – in the symphony of war.

The observers give varying reactions to the duel. A young girl in a blue-and-white maid's uniform clenched her hands together close to her chest with fear making her face paler than usual. An older, grey-haired man with a grisly face from years of warfare watched the back-and forth match play out. An older aquamarine-haired woman in a classic black-and-white maid's uniform replicated the soldier's silent observation and also kept an eye on her younger brown-haired sister maid to her side. That woman bobbed up and down on her feet in agitation. No one could tell if the younger sister maid's bobbing came from the fact two people she knows are fighting, or if she had something she forgot to do beforehand. The final observer, a silver-haired butler with a purple uniform and black overcoat, crossed his gloved arms over his chest and calmly waited for the match to end so he can perform his next task.

The younger combatant suddenly spun back and raised her sword straight before her chest. Her red eyes, the same shade as a late sunset on Nohr's horizon, were wide and alert. Her older opponent took a moment to flick some of her purple hair away from her immaculate face. The sunlight fell on the older woman's features as she slowly stepped to the left, circling around the younger duelist but not closing the gap. Her black breastplate and boots combined with a dark-purple skirt that showed the melding of power and beauty in one image. Her small purple eyes twinkled at her opponent as she moved slightly closer to them, keeping her image in the sun.

The younger duelist rolled her shoulders whilst keeping both boot-covered feet planted firmly on the ground. Her red eyes tried to gleam a motive behind her opponent's plans, her young mind racing through previous lessons in swordplay as fast as it could. Her silver armor weighed her down slightly as she kept her stance ready, her body not as used to the overlapping plates as her opponent. The blinding sunlight coming off her enemy's armor was another problem. She solved that issue by taking a step to her left, keeping at least a few paces of breathing room to herself.

The observers held their breath as the dance entered a new movement. The older woman stepped out of the sunlight and instantly changed to a different persona. She lunged forward and took the initiative with an overpowering thrust. The young woman braced for the blow and managed to direct it away from herself as metal shrieked against metal. She was not able to block, or even notice, the elder's armored foot before it slammed down on her covered toes with a firm "clunk".

A loud yelp reached the soldier's ears as the younger duelist's stance fell apart. She tried to shove her opponent back with a full-on charge, but it ended up smooshing her body against the other's muscular frame. The older woman, not upset with a woman's face in her cleavage, thrust her chest out and popped the intruder free. The black armor defied logic and stayed intact from this action. A deft twist of the wrist plucked the young woman's weapon out of her grasp and onto the grass.

A moment later, the younger woman felt a sharp point at her throat. A tiny stroke of the rapier's business end would slit her jugular and spell a slow, blood-filled death. She looked at her still-smiling rival, neither of them hearing the outcries and remarks of the watchers. They were alone in a swirling void of air, light and darkness. They have danced to the song of war, and the final movement had concluded.

The loser's face blushed as she turned away from the victor. She let out a reluctant, soft-voiced, "I yield." that everyone in the small patch heard.

"Hmph," The old general briefly huffed as the victorious woman's smile quickly morphed into a grin. "She should have put more strength into the charge. That would have tipped the scales in her favor."

"What did you expect, General?" the blue-haired maid replied with a brief scan of her trimmed nails for any traces of dirt. "Lady Corrin is still learning the arts of war. She is bound to mess up."

"Messing up is one thing, Flora. Messing up and then fixing it is another." The old commander blinked as he frowned, his face showing even more wrinkles than usual. "A noble of Nohr must know that difference before they can lead the kingdom."

"Oh, stop it with the pompous speeches!" The General turned to the younger maid at this remark. She glared at him and added, "Lady Corrin needs comfort, not more lessons. I'm sure of that!"

"You're a little late to the party then, Felicia," the butler commented as he stepped forward and pointed towards Lady Corrin's position. Everyone turned to the silver-haired woman and saw the young girl already by her side. Corrin does not get it in without her help. The older woman sheathed her blade with no additional aid, and also kept her smile as she watched the doting younger retainer aid her next-youngest sister in the Nohr family.

Corrin was unable to remove her blush, especially when she glanced at the conversing general, maids and butler. At this rate, they would talk about this for days. General Gunter would surely put this in his next lesson, and Flora would chastise his mistake in her usual perfect manner.

"If you wish for a bath, my Lady," the woman said without ever looking Corrin in the eye, "the hot spring can be prepared. It will need a few minutes, of course. You do look hurt. Did Lady Camilla injure you severely?"

Corrin shook her head. "No, Lilith, not too bad. My pride is more hurt than my body."

This did not remove Lilith's concerned expression. Corrin's bruises hurt a little less at Lilith's sympathy, an act that made the young girl more like a friend than a retainer. After thinking about it some more, Corrin reasoned a good bath would help soothe her body and mind. As General Gunter had once told her, "Anger is a fool's strength. Control your anger and you control how you fight." Her aching toes tell her she should have remembered that in the fight.

Corrin turned back to the maid before the moment grew too awkward. "I'll be at the spring soon, Lilith. I just have to take off this armor."

Lilith smiled at the statement. "Of course, my Lady. As you wish."

The young retainer bowed before she turned and quickly walked into the Northern Fortress's walls. Corrin directed her attention to unbuckling the metal plates of her armor from each other as she walked at a slower pace in the same direction. She didn't see the sultry glance her rival sent her way before she entered the castle proper. She wanted some time alone, preferably with hot water, to wash away the stress of failing another practice duel.

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The sound of water splashing against rock sent a brief flutter through Corrin's chest. As Corrin felt there she felt every strand of her hair stick to her forehead as she mechanically took off any armor she failed to get at before now. All the pieces were carefully put to one side of the entryway. She felt happier than just a few minutes ago, both in anticipation of how good the bath was going to feel, and that she remembered how to place her armor so she can quickly put it on again if needed. She's learned _that_ much from her lessons.

The hot spring's heat clung to her bare skin as she grabbed a pair of towels. One of them goes around her long hair as she wraps it in a tight bun. The other she kept nearby and placed by the water's edge. Her feet moved onto wooden planks, and then slowly slid beneath the water's surface. Corrin sighed in satisfaction at the temperature and, after a cursory scan for anyone nearby, moved the nearby towel a bit closer to her. She slid into the refreshing liquid until everything below her neck was enveloped. Her back pressed against a solid stone wall as she leaned back and let out a longer sigh of momentary bliss.

The spring's steam shrouded the few plants and decorative rocks in here from view. Corrin barely saw the spring's reinforced roof through the white haze. Several windows at the ceiling provided enough sunlight to see what one was doing, but barely little more. Corrin took note of all this, and then promptly discarded it in favor of reminding herself on what she had left on her agenda for today. She remembered a promise to Felicia about working together to clean the bedrooms. They could correct each other's clumsy mistakes, their combined efforts enough to match the butler Jakob's proper standards. Flora would probably still find some mistake, but that was the norm with the elder sister-maid. Hopefully Lilith would be able to—

Corrin's thought process is interrupted by two things happening almost at the same time. The first is a pair of hands covering her eyes before an unknown body slammed her into the water. At the same time, a melodious and familiar voice shouted, "Got you!" into Corrin's ears.

The towel keeping Corrin's hair dry slipped off as her head went under the surface. She surged up and automatically covered her chest with her hands as she blinked water out of her eyes. She quickly recognized the purple-haired woman standing before her. It was none other than her dear sister grinning at Corrin in her bare glory with her arms crossed and only a towel covering her hair.

Even without armor, Corrin couldn't help but marvel at how Camilla's body appeared to be made out of chiseled rock. Instinctively, Corrin attempted to hold her breath as her eye travelled down the 'valley' of Camilla's six-pack. Like the other times Corrin had gained the privilege to look upon Camilla's bare body, she felt as if Camilla was a living and breathing sculpture.

This did not go unnoticed by Camilla as she cheekily asked, "You see something you like?" Corrin shook her head and snapped out of whatever trance her elder sister had put her in. This was _not_ the time for such admiring of a sibling's body.

"Camilla!" Corrin spluttered with a short cough as some water came back up from the wrong internal pipe. "W-what are you doing here?!"

"Ah, you thought I had left?" The eldest daughter of the Nohr family line chuckled with obvious amusement. "Silly Corrin, you should've known I wouldn't leave my sister when she's so upset. Family is the greatest importance to me!"

"I don't think it's appropriate for sisters to be in the hot spring together." Corrin's returned blush made her face nearly as red as a ripe tomato as she looked away from Camilla and picked up her soaked towel. When she looked back at Camilla she saw her sister's hurt expression.

"Gah, sorry," Corrin sighed as she tossed the towel onto the planks to keep it from getting any wetter. "You just startled me, that's all."

Camilla's smile returned as she moved further into the steamy mist. "Well, what kind of ambush is one where your enemy knows what's happening?" Corrin heard the _flop_ of something soft landing on solid ground, followed by Camilla's body sliding into the water. "I wanted you to have your guard down, so you can learn your lesson easier."

Corrin turned away from the slowly-approaching fighter, not wanting to see anything indecent. She protested, "I already learned it. My toes are reminding me of my mistakes."

"Aww, do your toes need a rub?" Camilla darted through the water and grabbed Corrin's shoulders. The six-pack on her abdomen was easily visible, the muscles along her arms not concealed under bare skin. Camilla used these well-trained muscles to pull Corrin into a quick hug, but Corrin managed to slip out like a fish due to her sweat and steam-covered skin. Her blush spread down to her neck as Camilla playfully laughed. This prompted a smile to creep across Corrin's features, flashbacks of lost years giving her an estimate of how many times this same game has played out before.

Corrin wasn't sure this time should be any different. They may be older, but were they really any different now? She settled for an uncertain answer as she turned to look back at Camilla, who had given Corrin some personal space. Her hands cover anything indecent, but the rest of her body is clearly on display. She did not appear afraid of showing herself to interested eyes. Corrin did not consider herself one of those "interested" people, though.

"Why did you do that trick, anyway?" Corrin's eyes narrowed slightly, knowing Camilla understood just what kind of "trick" she was talking about. Camilla's smile dropped for the first time Corrin had seen today before she tilted her head slightly to the side.

"The battlefield is a crazy place, Corrin." Camilla's voice was now devoid of her usual playfulness as she warned Corrin, "People do crazy things when fighting for their lives. Everyone who fights in a war must learn that if they want to stay alive. Being distracted is a bad way to die."

Corrin completely agreed with this teaching. Gunter had hammered similar words into her body through repeated bruises with the pommel of his blade. But there was a difference between being distracted by someone you hate, and by someone you like…

"What you need to do is keep your senses active." Camilla did not appear to notice Corrin's tensing body as she slowly advanced to her sister's side. "Stay alert, whether against one opponent or a large army. Don't keep your focus on just one thing: you were able to parry my thrust well enough, but you didn't anticipate my follow-up maneuver. That broke your concentration and won me the duel."

"You're sounding like Gunter on a bad day." Despite Corrin's negative response, she didn't move away again. "I can't be calculating every possible move in a fight. My brain doesn't work that fast."

"I'm not asking for your brain to do that." Camilla lightly brushed her hand against Corrin's arm, to which Corrin did not back away from. "Don't take this as a failure. You got knocked down, but you can get back up again. Learn from this and be ready next time."

Corrin looked into her sister's eyes. The twin orbs showed a very clear set of emotions: honesty, care, and a touch of love. The important thing was the lack of any falsification or misinformation. That made Camilla's message more important for her to remember. She knew it was sage advice, but she also wouldn't be able to implement it immediately. How quickly did Camilla expect her to get better in life? Maybe it would be about the same time she would be finally able to leave this fortress and live with the rest of the family as a ruler of Nohr.

Corrin blinked a wave of tears out of her eyes before they spilled over. The image of a grey-faced and black-eyed man wearing the black cloak of some strange beast was harder to dispel. His withering look ignited a burning rage in Corrin's heart, even years after they had last seen each other. Once she was free of this prison of a fortress, the endless lessons and tutelage, the mindless readings and mantras—

A warm hand touched Corrin's neck, as if checking for an irregular pulse. Corrin's anger dissipated beneath that touch, the fire slowly snuffed out as common sense grew stronger than irrational anger. The younger sister stared at the water as the tiniest drop of humiliation in her gut for her dark thoughts disappeared.

"Okay," Corrin addressed her anxious subconscious and Camilla at the same time, "I get it". She then turned to Camilla and directly announced, "I'll remember that trick, for sure."

"Thank you, dear." Camilla got within reach of Corrin's hands as the steam grew a bit thicker around them. "Can you give Big Sis a hug before she goes?"

"W-what? Someone might see…" Corrin turned her head away again, her self-confidence not equal to Camilla's. An improper activity with a sibling would be another mark on the long list of mistakes!

"Let them see." Camilla put a finger to Corrin's chin and brought her head up ever so slightly. "We're sisters, and I want to comfort your hurt feelings. No one will hate you for accepting my care."

Camilla's smile proved infectious. Corrin fell under its temptations and did her best to echo it back. She then let out a quiet breath as Camilla finally closed the gap between them. The sisters wrapped their hands around the others back as their bodies pressed against each other. A blush formed on Corrin's cheeks as she felt their breasts do the same. Their eyes closed as their minds indulged in the current moment. Camilla allowed the more tender side of her psyche to manifest in sisterly love: Corrin allowed her suppressed sadness and rage against her father let her to indulge in pleasure.

Camilla soon tightened her grip on her sister's body, pulling her just a bit closer. Her lips parted to give a brief message.

"I love you, Corrin." Her voice was heavy, laden with emotion towards her self-appointed charge. "No matter how much you screw up, you'll always be my little sister. Our love will last forever. We are eternally bonded, after all."

Corrin returned the tight hug and breathed lightly on Camilla's back, watching a trail of sweat slowly wind its way down the attractive body of her elder sibling. "Thanks, Sis."

The two do not break their embrace for several minutes. This was a time for themselves, and no one else. Its ending was a sorry one for both sisters, though only one of them was visibly upset at what other tasks need finishing.

* * *

**[4 YEARS LATER]**

The battle hadn't gone in Corrin's favor. Then again, not much had since she realized her true birthright.

The Hoshidan princess raised a curved blade to block the wild slice of a Nohr fighter, following it up with a swift stab into the side of his mount. The horse shrieked and bucked, its rider falling heavily to the ground. Corrin did not look back to them, already moving against a new foe in the Nohr assembly. This one had a metal helmet covering his face, but his muscular body held a thick spear which he thrust in Corrin's direction. She leapt to one side and, with a few choice words, launched a ball of flame from her free hand. The projectile flew through the dank cavern air and slammed into the soldier's shoulder. He shrieked as his armor burst into flames, the man dropping and rolling on the ground to smother it out. Corrin saw two Hoshido ninjas clad in brown leather armor shiv him before he saved himself from the fire.

Corrin turned away and steeled her nerves while racing toward the next enemy. Death was a necessary price of war. An unfortunate price, but one that must be paid to gain victory. At least Corrin didn't have to do _all_ the killing on her own here. Then again, if she would have noticed this force before their ambush happened, maybe things would be—

A battle cry came from around a corner, loud enough for Corrin to hear against the overall chaos of battle. Something came flying out beyond that corner and skidded along the stone floor. Corrin recognized the Hoshido house crest on its uniform, but the name of this armored fighter was lost to her at this point. It didn't look like they would get back up again, what with the huge gash through their chest and side.

Corrin slipped behind the corner just as a young girl with long brown hair tied in two pigtails and a pink-and-grey corset, dress and boots with white gloves raced to her side. The horse Corrin saw her riding on before the fight began was nowhere to be seen. Corrin did not have to guess very hard as to its new whereabouts. Her guess was confirmed by the redness of the girl's pink eyes, a sign that the atrocities of war were a new concept to her growing mind. Even so, the girl clutched her golden-yellow stave with a firm and practiced grip that fit the training of a troubadour.

"Corrin," she half-whispered with shuddering breaths, "are you hurt?"

Corrin smiled back. "Not yet, Elise. Did you think I was?"

"N-not really." Elise's hands shook as she looks back at the path she had run down. She could hear more fighting taking place in the near-darkness of the torch-filled space, sounds that caused a shiver to run down her spine. She did her best not show it as she turned back to Corrin. "I just felt you were in danger, so I came here.

Corrin opened her mouth to reply, but a brutal crunching noise from around the corner sealed her voice. The hairs on her neck rose up as they heard nothing but abrupt silence from where the fighting was happening. Elise's face turned a shade paler as the _clip-clop_ of heeled boots came closer and closer. Corrin put a hand between Elise and the mysterious enemy, ready to fight for her sister.

The princess's stance broke when, of all people in the world, her older sister came around the bend. Corrin heard Elise's quick gasp as they took in Camilla's current appearance. The wyvern mount Elise said was with her before Corrin left was gone, and her body bore marks of a long and drawn out melee. Her armor was missing around one shoulder, her clean hair falling caked in dust and mud as it hung around her face. Her antique ax, which Corrin remembers as a "Brave Axe" from inside the armory, sported fresh blood along both of its metallic edges. A wild gleam made Camilla's narrowed eyes fearful to look at, the woman in the throes of a battle-lust against her enemies.

Camilla quickly spotted the two people near her. She faltered in her stance just like Corrin, her cravings clashing against the sight of her lost siblings. For a moment, Corrin saw the terror and confusion of a lost soul. Before Corrin could blink, that image was replaced with a smile too warm and loving to be normal in a fight.

"Corrin!" Camilla's voice wavered on the boundary between surprised elation and cursing accusation. "I knew you'd come back to your family!"

"Camilla…" Corrin kept her blade up between her and her sister and tried to phrase her words carefully. "I'm not coming back. I am ending this war!"

"Then you're on the wrong side. Nohr needs you, Corrin." Camilla tenderly placed her hands on her bosom. "_I_ need you." She then opened her arms up in a copy of the hugs she had always shared with Corrin. "Please, my dear… Come back… Come back to me…"

Corrin's eyes flashed with determination as she didn't go to Camilla's waiting embrace. "I'm not joining Garon, no matter what!"

"That's right, Big Sister!" Elise spoke up before anyone could stop her, her voice stronger than her heart right now. Camilla turned to her and actually curled her lips at what she sees. A child like Elise would be the easiest to be manipulated to the wrong group, especially if another sibling was holding their hand. It hurts even more that Corrin, _her darling Corrin_, is the enemy here.

"Tch!" Camilla jerked her head away from Elise, a clear sign of contempt as she turned back to her true target. "You aren't yourself, dear. These barbarians are brainwashing you." Camilla held up her ax as her fingers curled around the handle. "I'll set you right after I kill them all!"

"You aren't getting near them!" Corrin desperately cried out to Camilla. "They are my true people! They are my brethren against the lying king!"

"Stop talking nonsense!" Camilla lunged forward with ax raised high, her muscles surging from the exertion. Corrin backpedaled out of range before the ax struck down and carved a gouge into the floor. The crack became visible once Camilla pulled her weapon out from the ground, its blades flashing once as torchlight reflected off the polished edges.

With a short, "Stay back, Elise!" Corrin angled her sword into a defensive stance. The youngest Nohr sister obeyed without question, darting back into the shadows even as a burst of light came from a nearby skirmish. The two elder sisters, fellow daughters in the Nohr family line, put all their focus on their opponent and the immediate space around themselves. They fell into a macabre performance that other fighters all through this space's winding passageways were repeating at the same time.

Camilla swept her ax through the air, both blades threatening decapitation or dismemberment with every assault. Corrin, having just a curved sword for defense, was forced to bob and weave out of the way. Camilla didn't give her room to strike back, spinning and twirling like a ballerina to compensate the momentum of her strikes. Her purple hair flapped around her face, barely affecting her vision. Corrin watched her land blow after blow against the air, her perseverance paying off once Camilla began to tire. Her swings became slower as Corrin moved in for a debilitating strike.

Unexpectedly, Camilla lurched up and blocked Corrin's sword with her ax's handle. Vibrations raced up both women's arms, Camilla's strength balancing out against Corrin's speed. Corrin darted back as the elder got to her feet with a rough, "Oof!". A second later, Corrin dashed by with a short shoulder-bash on her unarmored side. The Malig Knight fell to her knees, her concentration shattered by fresh pain on a weaker spot. Corrin twisted back for another blow, only to slip on a wet patch of stone and fall prone.

"Guh!" Corrin felt her foot twist sharply against the hard floor as she landed face-first. She instinctively rolled to one side and got to her feet just as Camilla fully recovered.

Camilla reached into a pocket of her armor and took a deep breath before Corrin charged forward again. The Malig Knight held a small tome in her hands. Camilla then let out a breath in a loud eldritch shout which rung in Corrin's ears.

Corrin's body instantly shivered as an unnatural cold passed over her. She slipped and slid along a newly-formed patch of ice, right into Camilla's line of sight. Camila let out a loud grunt as she raised her ax for a brutal strike. All sense of compassion or sisterhood was lost: Corrin only saw death in front of her.

Corrin's senses raced a mile a minute. Thinking fast, she dropped to the floor and leapt to safety with frantic slices. Her sword clanged against Camilla's armored boots with little effect, but that wasn't her main goal. In an impressive show of improvised fighting tactics, Corrin slides between her sister's legs. Before Camilla could register what just happened, Corrin tumbled onto her back. In a split-second decision, Corrin jabbed Camilla's lower back with all her remaining strength via the flat end of her sword.

"URK!" Camilla gasped as she felt some muscles twist in a _very_ strange way. Her eyes bugged out as pain overrode all other emotions. Her ax slipped from her fingers and clattered to the ground. The magically-formed ice melted away a moment later. Camilla's body collapsed, thankfully away from any edged weapons.

Camilla tried to move, but her body failed to respond. It took the Malig Knight several confused seconds to realize her muscles weren't responding to her head. She had never been paralyzed like this. As her mind attempted to process this, the only thought she had was, "_What dirty Hoshidan trick did Corrin do just now?!_"

Her eyes widened at comparing her sister to one of the enemy. Corrin wasn't like those barbarians, even if she had joined them. Who cared if she was born there, she hadn't spent her life with those people! Corrin was her sister, her friend through years of her life. She was also Camilla's greatest source of affection and love, more so than her calculating mother had ever been. After all that, why would Corrin turn against her family? What evidence had there been to show Nohr wasn't a kind and loving place?

She then remembered the look on Corrin's face at that last strike. That fear those Hoshidan had when they saw what Camilla could do. With dawning horror Camila realized the consequence of her actions. Her words of comfort before the battle now sounded venomous and spiteful. The way she turned her head from Elise, like how Garon would to a squirming court official, made her feel sick. Worst of all, she had actually wanted to _kill her sister_, driven by carnage and the base desire to spill blood. That froze her insides more than any magical ice.

Desperate to fix things, Camilla attempted to grab her ax again. She stopped when Corrin stepped into her view. The traitor sibling placed a gray boot over Camilla's weapon, her own blade held in one hand. She was in control now, and she knew it.

This dance was over.

"Aaah…" Camilla sighed in defeat as truth started to tear her little world apart. "So, you're never coming back. And now I'll lose Elise as well as you."

Corrin vehemently shook her head. "No. You aren't losing anyone! We're going to persuade Xander and Garon to end this war!"

"We can be a family again, Sis!" Camilla's shocked face turned towards Elise as her youngest sister raced to Corrin's side. "It's what we all want!"

Elise's face was aglow with a happiness Camilla remembered from better days. Gentle warmth filled the downed knight's limbs with energy – not enough energy to leap up and kill something, but enough to make her legs move as she wanted again. She only got up to her knees before her vision spun wildly. Her head pounded as the sharp pain from before turned into a throbbing headache.

"A family…" Camilla's eyes glistened with tears as she involuntarily recalled all the times she had spent with everyone. Elise, Leo, Xander, and especially Corrin, all of them together and happy "Oh, how do I know this is true?"

"You may not be my sister by blood, but you are my sister by love." Corrin sheathed her blade and, in a gesture breaking several levels of common sense, offered a hand to her opponent. Elise and Camilla stared at the action with shock. Camilla questioned if this was a trick or slight-of-hand move to deal a final blow against a downed opponent. Surely Corrin would never, _never_ fall to the dishonor of a Hoshidan thief?

Corrin continued to hold Camilla's hand as tightly as she could while she spoke a few quiet words. "I still love you, Camilla." Tears threatened to spill down Corrin's face as she leaned forward and lightly kissed Camilla's hand.

"Corrin…" Camilla felt tears fall down her cheeks, the warmth helping suppress the pain of the fresh bruises on her feet. She looked into the eyes of her sister, friend, and lover, and she took her words as truth. Against the iron blackness of Garon's will, Corrin's spirit shone like a tiny candle sputtering defiance into the void. It drew Camilla in, enticing her to add fuel to it and make it stronger.

Camilla's discomforts left her body with a deep sigh, her motives clear for the first time since Corrin had chosen to go to her home nation. "I still love you, too, darling Corrin. Now and forever."

Voices reached Corrin's ears as Camilla's body teetered back and forth. The older knight's eyelids fluttered and her vision went black. Corrin cries out as Camilla fell unconscious from her many wound. She did not know Camilla's heart was satisfied that her love, and her family, were both doing the right thing.

(LINE BREAK)

Corrin fell to her knees in front of Camilla's body. She flinched when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at Elise as the younger sister said, "It's going to be okay, Sis…"

Corrin wasn't entirely sure if Elise truly believed those words. Corrin put her hand on Elise's arm and decided to ask for Elise's opinion on an important matter. "Elise… Do you think the people we love with can be 'Eternally Bonded'… even after all this?"

"I know they can," Elise assured her sister. "Camilla still loves you, and I still love you. I'm sure if we do our best, we can reach Xander and father. We can end this war. Then we can…"

Corrin sorrowfully shook her head in response to Elise's unfinished hope. "Things can never go back to the way they were, Elise…"

"I know…" Elise briefly closed her eyes and reopened them as she held onto Corrin's shoulder. "I know, but we can still be a family, can't we?"

"Yes… That's what I promised…" Corrin looked away from her sister and told her, "We can finish this war before it's too late for us all." Corrin then stood up as she said, "I know we can't finish this if I stay like this." Corrin looked to Camilla and asked Elise, "Will she be okay?"

"She'll be fine." Elise held up her staff. The hanging end glowed as she assured her sister, "I'll make sure of it." As the glow continued to shine, Camilla's wounds could be seen shrinking and reclosing. The light faded and Elise commented, "She'll definitely live."

"Thank you…" Corrin put her hand on Elise's shoulder. When Elise looked up at Corrin, she told Elise, "Thank you for helping me."

Elise circled her arms around Corrin's larger body and took her into a hug. "You don't need to thank me, Big Sis." Corrin found herself returning the hug before she knew it. When they finally broke apart, Elise looked her sister in the eyes.

Elise's smile carried over some of Camilla's infectious qualities as she said, "Let's end this."

"Yes, lets." Corrin and Elise started off together into the unknown, leaving Camilla's body behind to rest and recover. Neither Corrin nor Elise knew what would await them when they faced Xander, or what would transpire before this war ended. Corrin hoped that whatever put the "Eternal Bond" he shared with Camilla to the test would understand the lengths he would go to keep the ones she loved safe.

* * *

**That's all for now. The next chapter will be posted eventually, and I will keep an eye here for feedback and criticism you can provide.**

**Draconos is taking off!**


	2. Chapter 2: Fractured Love

**Hello, readers! Here is the second chapter of this story. It is a long chapter, like the last one, so I recommend taking your time reading through it. It focuses on relationships and character development, things I have found harder to do well in my writings.**

**The next chapter of this story is being worked on at this time. I have no set date as to when it will be completed.**

**Any constructive criticism or feedback you can give to this story would be appreciated. Enjoy!**

* * *

**[CASTLE SHIRASAGI, THRONE ROOM]**

**[3 WEEKS AND 5 DAYS AFTER THE DEATH OF KING GAURON]**

_Divided_. That would be the word Corrin would use to describe herself as she witnessed the scene unfolding before her eyes. A scene that should be a joyous occasion to all instead caused conflict within both her mind and body.

A happy warmth sprouted in Corrin's heart when she saw the red-armored Ryoma, the eldest brother of her true family, accept the title "King of Hoshido". Her hands applauded with every other assembled person in attendance for the ceremony. Her lips spread into a smile as she heard Ryoma's heartfelt speech, how the new peace between Hoshido and Nohr would bring prosperity after so much loss.

Corrin listened and clung to every word Ryoma said. She knew her brother was a man who would live up to those words, and her other 'family' would honor them as well. Energy spread from her head down to her toes in those moments, a passion she had not felt for months on end. This was a sense of inspiration, an opportunity to do whatever she wanted.

Unfortunately, Corrin's mind painted this celebration with muted colors. Try as she did, Corrin could not keep out the terrors forever. Even as Ryoma decreed an alliance between the kingdoms, Corrin felt her fingers grow cold. How could she ally with people she had lived away from for so many years? Hoshido had been her birthplace, but Nohr was lodged fast in her memories. She grew up in Nohr and knew it so much better.

Corrin had felt like a foreigner from a distant land when she had "returned" to Hoshido. Turning away from her adopted family, people she had trusted and even loved, in favor of finding her _real_ purpose had been the hardest decision of her life. And, like any decision, it had come with a price. A price she knew would come but was still ill-prepared to pay.

Names of the deceased rested on the edge of Corrin's tongue. Casualties of war very close to Corrin's heart were held back by firmly-shut lips and steady breaths. Years of training allowed her body to maintain the appearance of happiness, but her inner eye flashed grim images. The faces and expressions of Elise, Xander, and even the hated Gauron refused to leave Corrin's inner sanctum.

They were all casualties, and Corrin felt only Gauron deserved to die for what he did. After all, she had dealt the final blow against the mad king. Elise and Xander had died believing things could still be better. They had respected Corrin's final decision to stand against Gauron – she had a brief moment in the afterlife to confirm it – but that didn't reduce the pain of their absence.

It hurt to think about the dead. Corrin forced herself to focus on the now, the current happiness. She felt tears in her eyes as Ryoma concluded his speech, to thunderous applause. A part of her felt happy. A larger part of her couldn't describe how it felt. There were too many changes happening too quickly. However, Corrin understood she was far from the only one in attendance going through this sensation. As a princess and a fellow warrior, Corrin understood she had a responsibility as she held on and hoped for the best. Although, this 'responsibility' further divided her.

The more Corrin was divided, the higher the odds were being stacked against her. Like most people, Corrin detested that feeling. She should feel horrified and disgusted at what she had sacrificed to get here, what _everyone_ had to sacrifice to reach a happy ending. Voicing such emotions now might be considered "crazy" for a noblewoman like herself. At the same time, social etiquette said it was better for the leaders to keep their emotions bottled inside until the time was right.

With nothing better to rely on, Corrin kept herself focused. Her training had allowed her to keep strong emotions contained, locked behind specific keys in her core, but she had never learned how to erase them. So, she settled into a waiting game until she could have some privacy to let herself go.

When the people began to disperse back to their regular lives, Corrin moved up to Ryoma. He stood tall and proud, a symbol of stability for the people he now had to rule. His face looked less rigid than his body, which intrigued Corrin even further as she got into speaking range.

"Well said, Ryoma," Corrin addressed her brother with genuine compliment. "That was a great first speech as king."

"Really?" Ryoma's eyes shined with surprise, or perhaps relief; Corrin couldn't exactly tell. "Thank you. I'll be honest, I was quite nervous in front of the crowd."

"You, nervous? From what I've seen?" Corrin shook her head in amused disbelief. "You stood against Gauron! That takes a lot of courage. You showed it when Yukimura handed you the crown."

"I agree," a very familiar woman's voice sounded from just by Corrin. "I was moved by your words. Well, not to tears…" Corrin whirled round to see Camilla meander her way up to Ryoma, purple hair hanging back from her face and muscled body clad in her usual black armor and purple skirt. The sudden proximity towards a sibling caused Corrin to draw in a sharp breath. She silently hoped no one noticed.

An amused chuckle signaled the arrival of Leo as he appeared beside Camilla. He smirked at Ryoma as he sarcastically remarked, "Who knew Hoshidan nobles are so soft on the inside?"

"Camilla! Leo!" Corrin's embarrassment and surprise changed to happiness as she gave a wide smile to both of her siblings. "I didn't think you two would make it!"

"We wouldn't miss this moment," Leo emphasized to Corrin with a wave of his hand. "Hoshido's newest allies need to see the King being crowned. Though, I'm sure I won't get used to living among citizens of a former enemy nation."

Corrin stood still, but tension twisted in her gut when she heard Leo's words. She looked at him and attempted to understand if he was hurt by the war like she was. She had to make sure, and insisted, "Leo, there isn't any—"

"Leo, please." Camilla stepped in to correct Leo before Corrin could finish. "You told me this morning, in the marketplace, that your biggest goal was wanting to see Corrin again."

"Hey!" Leo turned on Camilla with an upset expression. He then muttered, in what he assumed was a quieter voice but could still be heard by everyone present, "That was supposed to be private…"

This earned Leo a round of laughs from the party. He accepted them with hung head and slow breaths. Corrin breathed a bit easier upon seeing Leo's stress had not been as deep as she first thought. That left someone else close to worry about.

Corrin turned to Camilla, her love from so long ago, and saw a few creases on that tapestry of skin Camilla called a face. The immaculate nature was no longer there. It had been broken, scarred, tainted in some way Corrin could not yet figure out.

Camilla noticed Corrin staring at her, which led Corrin to ask, "Are you sure you're okay, Camilla?"

Camilla looked away from Corrin before answering, "I'm not ecstatic about this change. Xander and Elise aren't with us anymore. It hurts to think about them."

Ryoma placed a gloved hand on Camilla's shoulder, an action that made Corrin involuntarily flinch. Ryoma calmly but firmly said, "I am very sorry for your loss, Lady Camilla. If I could, I would bring back those who did not deserve death."

Camilla gave him a warm smile for his eloquent words, the meaning sincere enough to break through any mistranslation. Corrin almost smiled as well, pleased that her brother knew how hard it was to recover from losing people you loved.

"But," Ryoma continued as he stepped back again, "as I am not skilled in those arts, the best thing we can do is make sure something like this war does not happen again."

Camilla gave a firm nod, but her face looked no better. "You're right, of course. I understand that war is needed, but it doesn't feel good after."

Corrin reached for Camilla's arm as soon as she saw the tears in Camilla's eyes, but Leo beat her to it. The scholarly Nohr prince insisted, "Oh, don't you start crying, sis. Then I'm gonna cry, Corrin's gonna cry, and we'll all be sobbing in the streets. No one wants that today! At least," he finished with a wry grin, "not until my coronation is done!"

"_Your_ coronation?!" Corrin's jaw dropped in surprise at this new and valuable bit of information. "I thought Camilla was next in line for the Nohr throne…"

Camilla adds to the surprise by forcefully smacking Leo's arm away. "Leo, you blabbermouth! That was supposed to be secret!"

"Fair's fair, Big Sis," Leo replied while rubbing his arm a bit and keeping up his smile. "It isn't good to keep secrets."

"Ugh…" Camilla quickly rubbed a hand down her face, and then turned to the still-shocked Corrin with an apologetic expression. "Alright, I'll lay it out for you. I am next in line, like you said, but I want Leo to take it instead. He is a better King than I could ever be as a Queen."

Even with that line of reasoning, Corrin's mouth remained agape. Ryoma voiced Corrin's concerns for her with a more steady voice than she could muster, "This is not a simple choice to make. Are you sure running a kingdom is not what you want to do?"

"Yes," Camilla instantly answered with a slight waver in her tone. "If things were different, maybe it would be easier for me. As it is, my insides twist when I try to picture myself on that throne."

Corrin recognized Camilla's emotional turmoil – perhaps the legacy of Gauron's influence, or just the thought of ruling a war-stricken kingdom. She instantly moved to patch up the wounds with the words, "Then don't think about it. Do what you want to do. You've got freedom, you've got skills, and you've got friends."

Corrin paused to step up and hold one of her older sister's hands in both of her own. "You've got people who love and care for you, remember?"

"Corrin…" Camilla just barely kept the tears back this time, having to wipe her eyes with her free hand as her lips quivered like fast-flowing streams. "I'm sorry," she said with cracking voice, "I must look so stupid right now. I just feel things would be better if something had changed."

"Enough, Camilla," Leo quietly advised his sister. "Please, stop."

Camilla looked at Leo for a moment without acting. She then turned back to the rest of the party and said, "Okay. I'll be fine. Thank you all." Corrin wasn't so sure about that, but she knew better than to voice her objections in front of everyone else.

Leo tugged Camilla's arm as he turned away from the part with the declaration, "We should go. After my coronation, I can arrange a friendly competition with Hoshido. That can relieve some stress between our nations."

Ryoma quickly nodded in agreement. "A tournament of some kind sounds good. I will look forward to helping you arrange it." Ryoma then held out his hand to Leo.

Leo took the hand and firmly shook it as he said, "It will be an honor."

As her brothers shook hands, Corrin quickly generated some ideas as to what events might take place at such a tournament.

Leo turned back around with the words, "Bye, everyone!" before he walked out of the throne room doors to his waiting attendants.

Camilla stayed a moment longer, her eyes drifting over the people still here before she looked right at Corrin. Corrin looked back for a few moments that felt much longer to her mind. Her heart pounded as she stared deep into Camilla's purple eyes and saw something that wasn't there anymore…

Camilla broke away from Corrin's gaze before any concerns could be voiced. She instead said, "We'll see you in Nohr for the coronation," to the rest of the party and left them to follow Leo. Corrin watched her go in silence. Her heart beat faster for her sister, struck down by some problem Corrin could not identify. Would Camilla ever tell Corrin the truth herself?

This could not be left unsolved. Corrin stepped after Camilla with the words, "Camilla, please wait!" She did so with a confused look that also held slivers of anger at being kept even longer in this place. Corrin placed her hand on Camilla's shoulder in a replica of Ryoma's earlier action.

Corrin's throat felt strangely tight all of a sudden. She wetted her lips as she quietly asked, "Can we talk a bit further? In private?"

Camilla looked at Corrin and went through several different emotions in just a few seconds. She settled on concern and gave a very slight nod to Corrin as her answer. Corrin glanced back to Ryoma and the other nobles still in the throne room, only to find they had vanished. Did they know, or suspect, this private conversation was going to happen?

Corrin chose not to question it any further and seized the opportunity to take Camilla to one corner of the room. Camilla let herself be brought over by the hand to a spot between two smaller windows. Sunlight from the bright day outside filtered in through both windows to create an overlapping layer of light. Camilla and Corrin's armor pieces each reflected this light into the other person's eyes, which forced them both to look away for a few moments.

When Corrin's eyes adjusted, she turned back to Camilla and saw her once again make eye contact. Those purple eyes now looked hard and firm, a sign to Corrin that Camilla was in her "big sister" state. But Corrin knew Camilla was hurting inside. The persona Camilla had sculpted only worked for so long. All Corrin had to do was figure out why Camilla felt so hurt inside, and how Camilla could fix it.

With luck, Corrin could even help Camilla along the way, as a sister and a lover. They had both been hurt by the war, and Corrin felt now was a good time to mend their wounds together.

* * *

Corrin clears her throat in the near-silence of the throne room. "Camilla, I—"

"Corrin, you don't need to say it." Camilla's sharp-tongued response cut Corrin short. "I know I don't look and sound my best, okay? I'm sorry about that."

Corrin's brain took a few moments to process what Camilla said. She then corrected it by saying, "That's not what I wanted to talk about. I need to know how you really feel about this."

Camilla raised an eyebrow. "What, Ryoma being king of Hoshido? Leo being King of Nohr? I'm fine with both of them."

Corrin slowly shook her head as she realized she would have to spell out her intentions to her sister. She took a breath and stated, "I mean the losses in our family."

Camilla's entire body locked up upon hearing those words. The muscles in her face froze into an upset frown, her shoulders lodged themselves halfway up to her neck, and her fists clenched up tight. Corrin automatically took a step back for fear of having her jaw punched out. After several seconds ticked by with no physical violence, Corrin stated to relax.

Then Camilla gave a smile Corrin did not like one bit. Camilla's lips were smiling, but her eyes were not. If that wasn't enough, the smile also didn't make Camilla's face any brighter.

"Ah, yes," Camilla stated in a much quieter voice, "I almost forgot you were a part of the Nohr royalty. You've changed so much since then, it's like you're a completely different person. Not the 'little sister' I once knew."

Corrin felt a bead of sweat run down her spine. That wasn't true, right? Camilla couldn't have possibly forgotten about Corrin as a sister, right? However, the possibility couldn't be fully blocked out, and the thought of it invited terrible thoughts into Corrin's subconscious. She did her best to adopt the method of verbal force over subtle language.

"I'm more than just a Hoshidan now, Camilla," Corrin declared as she leaned a bit closer to Camilla's face. "I'm your sister, just like I was before. I may not be connected by blood anymore, but I've got memories of our time together. I'll always cherish them."

To Corrin's relief, Camilla's tension released its hold over her body. The purple-haired sister then, instead of saying something happy like Corrin had predicted, chastised Corrin's word choice. Her words felt cold as she said, "You shouldn't linger so much on the past. We can't go back to it."

Corrin saw red. Was Camilla telling her to forget what had happened? Forget the war she had been so much a part of? Forget the people from Hoshido and Nohr who fought and slaughtered each other? Forget the actions of her adopted father, who had sought to rule the world as a Blight Dragon in the service of a dread god?!

"The past still hurts me, Camilla! Xander and Elise died because of this war!" Corrin slammed a hand to her heart as if echoing a sword thrust into that same spot. This got Camilla's attention as Corrin added the crushing point, "They died because of _me_!"

The raw emotion on Corrin's face caused something delicate to break in Camilla's heart. Instinct took hold; years of similar outbursts led Camilla to act without thinking. Almost too quickly to see, Camilla snapped Corrin's hand away and held it firmly in the air. Camilla's other hand wrapped around Corrin's back and pulled her face against Camilla's generous chest. Corrin's muffled protest was heard on deaf ears as Camilla forcefully embraced her younger sister.

"Stop saying that nonsense, Corrin." Camilla heard her voice crack with each word she spoke, which only made her try all the harder to sound like the disciplined one. She got as far as adding the words, "It isn't true," before she had to stop talking altogether. Corrin's body felt so delicate in her hands, it was like they were both kids again. Camilla held on tight as Corrin's own stress came to a head. Quiet sobbing, heavily muted by Camilla's bosom, could be heard from that corner of the room.

Several seconds go by with neither woman moving. Eventually, to Camilla's internal regret, she released Corrin and let her stand back up. Camilla then released Corrin's hand, who let it fall back to her side and hang there like a discarded rag. The sudden assault of "big sister" emotions had caused Corrin to lose her train of thought. She stood there like a statue and looked back at Camilla with red eyes and dried tears on her cheeks. Camilla's maternal instincts, drawn from comforting Corrin for so long, began to boil beyond control. She forced herself to say her next words with the necessary control.

"What happened to Xander and Elise wasn't your fault," Camilla stated matter-of-factly. "Ryoma said it best today: war brings casualties."

"But you want to just forget them?" Corrin wipes an eye as her younger voice starts to crack as well. "You want to mark up their graves and never look back?"

Camilla's heart went out to Corrin, but logic took precedence here. She stated it as such to Corrin with the words, "We can't mourn forever, Corrin. That takes time away from other duties."

Corrin attempted to give a glare, which ended up looking like a pout. The young Hoshidan lady then let out a sigh through gritted teeth, lips peeled back in a display of rage against the countless "duties" the world threw people's way. The very word was always used as an excuse or justification for what _had_ to happen, not what _should_.

"Oh, Corrin…" Camilla saw the sincerity in Corrin's reddened eyes and that made her motherly side take an even stronger hold over her conscious. "My little baby, come here. Come here."

Camilla spread her arms out like she had done countless times before. Corrin yielded to the invitation, but this time she hugged Camilla back. The two women basked in each other's presence, emotionally linked so firmly together because they were still alive and because they had both lost brothers and sisters to this war.

Corrin placed her chin on Camilla's shoulder as she insisted, "I don't want to forget them. Xander, Elise, everyone who died for me. They're all too important to leave behind."

Camilla squeezed Corrin tighter, trying to wring out the negative emotions like a wet cloth. "You couldn't save them all, Corrin," she insisted. "No one is that powerful."

Corrin understood that much, but Camilla's short emotional leash made her seem uncaring towards her sibling's deaths. Corrin asked, "Don't you feel sorry for them?" to try and get Camilla's true feelings out.

"Of course!" Camilla sounded shocked Corrin would even consider that option. "Leo and I are very hurt by all this. But we can't let feelings govern our lives."

"But if we forget our feelings, then how will we enjoy what we do?" Corrin attempted to protest, "If we let go of our feelings, how can we ever understand each other?"

Corrin felt Camilla's body freeze up again. The older sister muttered a breathless, "Corrin, I…" before she snapped away from the embrace. Camilla's purple hair fell in front of her eyes as, with shaking voice, she pleaded, "Please, don't make me say it."

"Say what?" Corrin got in Camilla's face once she realized Camilla didn't want to verbally admit how hurt she was. "What is making you look so sad? Don't try to hide it from me!"

Camilla stood tall, towering over Corrin like a giant. Despite this advantage, sunlight from the twin windows showed fragility in Camilla's form. Her renewed demand of, "Please, Corrin… Stop…" had the opposite effect of invigorating Corrin to risk it all on one fact she desperately wanted to know.

"The _truth_, Camilla!" Mad fervor led Corrin to grab her sister's face with both hands. Her thumbs peeled back that lovely purple hair to expose the widened eyes beneath. Camilla stared into the face of someone young and old, forceful and understanding, kind and dangerous at the same time. It was Corrin, yes, but a new Corrin, a Corrin crawled out from the shredded skin of a younger body.

War had carved out this adult Corrin. The same war had lanced a spike so deep into Camilla's heart it would never be completely removed. Camilla reacted to this change, this primal display of power and passion in someone she so admired, with her heart.

Corrin let out a shocked, "MMPH!?" as Camilla shoved her head forward, closed her eyes, and slammed her lips against Corrin's own. Sunlight blinded Corrin as she breathed some scent in Camilla's hair, or perhaps the sweat beneath her armor as the women continued to be bombarded by golden rays.

Camilla pulled back with an audible "pop" as her lips detached. Corrin had to blink both to get her sight back and because she was so shocked by what just happened. Was _this_ how Camilla really felt? Had Corrin overdone things and released the darker side of Camilla's affection?

Corrin let her hands drop to her sides as she gave Camilla some personal space. This included walking back a few steps and out of the corner. Camilla looked at Corrin with a wild stare, a dangerous gleam blended into raw emotion through dilated pupils. The sunlight sliced along Camilla's skin and made wearing marks along the clean cheeks.

Camilla looked hurt. She also looked very much ready to tear Corrin apart or knock her down with a crushing hug.

"This is the truth, Corrin," Camilla insisted as she tried closed the gap between herself and her target. "Darling, precious, sweetheart Corrin, I love you! I've always loved you!"

Corrin almost got a rebuttal out of her mouth, but Camilla beat her to it with a wild rambling explanation that got the point across well enough. Now in shadow, Camilla's face shone with sweat as an inner fire was unleashed.

"Ever since we were kids," Camilla began, "I've been your sister. I promised to never stop reminding you of who I was, and I've kept that promise. I kept it while you grew up alone in that Tower. I kept it when you left Nohr for Hoshido. I even tried keeping it when we faced each other on the battlefield. My love was that strong, Corrin! It still is that strong!"

Corrin couldn't say no to that. The "love" was so strong right now Corrin had to force herself to keep eye contact. Corrin felt her cheeks burn up with scalding embarrassment. The woman she loved, just a few inches away from her now, looked almost ready to explode. Corrin kept her ears open as best she could when Camilla continued.

"I love it that you want to help me get better, Corrin." Camilla's eyes sparkled with fresh tears with those words. "You're becoming so much like your big sister. But you must understand, we can't always be there for each other. I want to stay with you like when we were young, but that isn't possible now. We both have to realize that."

Corrin felt the cold touch of guilt wrap around her gut. Maybe she had overdone it. She hadn't wanted Camilla driven to despair. Corrin's goal grew rancid in her mouth, horrid in her brain. Why had she gone so far? Why had she surrendered control like that?

Camilla sniffled a few times before she continued with a possible deal: "We can still be sisters. We can still be Eternally Bonded, like we promised each other in the hot springs. Lovers, now and forever."

Camilla felt her palms sweat as she placed one hand on Corrin's shoulder. "Would you like that, darling Corrin," she delicately asked. "Would that make you happy?"

Corrin didn't know what to say. This was not what she had expected, but she didn't abhor or reject it. In a flash, she realized this could have been an underlying plan all along, her subconscious writing out steps in secret as Corrin slept and dreamed of a better life with her family. It could have started when she spoke to Xander and Elise in the beyond, or maybe on that fateful day when Corrin chose Hoshido over Nohr. Everything that had happened before could have led up to this moment.

Corrin's shoulders shook. Then, her whole body shook. The realization that Camilla loved her equally, maybe even more so, was more than she could take. Love didn't surpass the sadness of death, but it came very close. Camilla's eyes widened at the lack of an answer, and then even more when she drew a completely different conclusion from Corrin's physical state.

"Corrin, I didn't mean for—" Camilla stopped short as a loud cheer came from the outside crowds. That sound of joy being directed at something other than her love snapped the final cord holding her emotions in check. With a loud, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Camilla covered her face with her hands and dashed out of the throne room. She moved too fast for Corrin to react, which left the silver-haired woman in shock and awe.

"_Corrin hates me,_" Camilla's mind repeated over and over as she raced away from the searing truth into a cold and unforgiving world. "_She knows how I feel and she hates me! She doesn't love me at all!_"

Corrin watched her go, unable to move or speak in the slightest. By the time Corrin could do anything, Camilla was long gone. Corrin quickly realized she had caused a misunderstanding and ruined this opportunity. Her _final_ opportunity. This failure was another weight on her heart that would only serve to weigh her down.

* * *

**[SOME TIME LATER]**

**[CASTLE KRAKENBURG]**

Camilla mechanically strode through the stone halls of her old home. She had no eyes for the expensive carpets or purple-colored banners that graved the floor and walls. Her focus was set on the large double doors that stood at the hall's end. She drove towards them, her armored boots clanking with every step.

The guards flanking the door stood as still as possible as Camilla came at them like a thunderstorm. The two men only moved to open the doors, eager for this woman to go on her way and leave them alone. She obliged and entered the throne room with eyes trained on the person sitting on the black throne.

Leo, Camilla's youngest brother, sat on the throne with a practiced posture. He appeared relaxed everywhere but his eyes, which were looking at a small folded letter when Camilla came in. The woman's direct expression did not unnerve Leo as he refolded the letter and signaled a waiting male page with a scar along his right cheek over.

The page took the letter after a brief whispered conversation, not looking Camilla in the eyes as he made his escape. The throne room doors shut with a muted "boom" as Camilla stopped her advance several feet in front of the throne. No force or person moved to interrupt the sibling's meeting.

Camilla crossed her arms beneath her chest and asked, "You sent for me, Leo?" with obvious irritation. She had been quite busy when she received the summons, after all.

"Yes." Leo's smile remained despite Camilla's sharp and unforgiving appearance. "I'm sorry to draw you away from your duties, but I feel this decision has been kept back for too long."

Camilla shifted her weight to her other foot as Leo stood up from the throne. In a rather informal move, Leo raised his arms above his head and stretched them for a solid seven seconds. He let them back down with a content sigh and sat foward on the throne, apparently wanting to do that for a while. Camilla knew Leo had to sit on that throne for a long time each day, but she hadn't cared about the details. His blond hair looked a little out of place, but the rest of him was just like Camilla remembered: clean-shaven, lean and slightly brooding because of the dark magic he could wield.

"Camilla," Leo began with narrowed brown eyes, "I have seen you grow more distant over the past few months. You appear more rigid, more disciplined than the sister I remember. Your skill and talent are still there, but you don't have the same emotion now. In short," he summarized before Camilla could get bored, "you are sad where you used to be happy."

"Who told you this?" Camilla's one visible eye narrowed as she asked this. "The soldiers? The maids? Have my attendants been speaking to you in private?"

"Nothing of the sort." Leo's demeanor remained composed as he put his back straight against the throne. "This comes solely from my own observations. Remember, Camilla, I can see and understand a great many things in this world."

Camilla breathed heavy at what that implied. It could mean a lot of things, but she chose to focus on the worst possible option first. A summons from the King, after he had observed things for a while, could only mean something serious was afoot. She stood her ground against this dark reason and bluntly asked, "Do you think I am hiding something from you, Leo?"

"I don't need to answer that question." Leo crossed his hands and put them on his lap without tarnishing his gold and black robes. "My choice is a clear one if I want to act like a good brother and a good-hearted King." Leo looked Camilla right in the eyes and adopted the stern image and firm voice of a king.

"Camilla," Leo ordered, "you are officially being relieved of service to the Nohr royalty."

Camilla's fists clenched. "That's—" She couldn't finish her thought before it split into tens of different possibilites why this had happened. Had she acted against the kingdom somehow? Had people wanted her out of the castle? Was this a scheme against her status, or maybe even her life?

"Please understand," Leo interjected with a raised hand and a focused look, "this is not banishment, exile, or anything like that. You may continue to live here in the castle; nothing will be taken away from you. I truly appreciate the help you have given me and this land, but I feel it is no longer needed. I am a King, and the people know it. They love me, and they love what I provide for them."

Camilla's heart gave in a bit at this. Leo's inferiority complex had almost reared its ugly head when he had taken the throne, his feelings the result of a lack of attention from their shared father. The war had shown the ugly side of this inferiority and brought it to light in sinister ways. But, when the war ended, Leo had used his wits to go at those feelings from a different angle. He had grown up into a ruler and loved doing it as well as receiving praise for it. He hadn't let his complex hold him back, a sign to Camilla that she had done the correct thing, and that he truly was the one worthy of the throne.

Still, the fact Leo was telling Camilla to stop working for the kingdom was cause for concern. She stood her ground, and she didn't immediately agree to this order.

Leo noticed the unflinching energy in Camilla's eyes and further explained, "I am giving you the freedom to resolve whatever has dragged your mind down into this cesspool of despair I see carved on your face."

This did not soothe Camilla's nerves. "What freedom do you mean, exactly?" she asked with just as much dissatisfaction as when she first arrived.

"Just freedom, Camilla," Leo repeated. "What you do or don't do is up to you. You could travel to a new land, learn something from the royal library, or take a walk down the market street." Leo smirked as he sat a little taller on the throne. "But perhaps you would rather go and meet our dear 'younger sister' in Hoshido."

That remark struck several cords inside Camilla's heart. She muttered, "Corrin…" as the image of her shocked and shaking lover replayed itself. The last sight of her up close, in the throne room of Castle Shiragasi, had left a festering wound in Camilla's soul. Fear of being humiliated for her true feelings, and worry that they would not be reciprocated, had kept her from speaking or looking at Corrin unless circumstances required her to do so.

Was Leo giving Camilla a chance to right a personal wrong?

"I have never asked what you two spoke about after Ryoma's coronation," Leo stated with the feeling that he actually really wanted to, "nor will I do so now. I merely feel that you will be happier if you go and see her again. We have both been very busy since the alliance began. Personal activities have been put aside for the people's sake."

"I get it, Leo." Camilla didn't need to hear every single way Leo and herself had put off their personal goals. "How long will this freedom last?"

Satisfied that his order was accepted, Leo rolled his shoulders back against the throne. "It will last until this kingdom needs your nobility and intelligence again," he directly stated. "I can't say how long that will be. I feel only you can make that choice. Whatever dark thoughts linger in your heart are things you have to address alone."

Leo finally unclasped his hands and rubbed a finger and thumb from one hand together. "Unfortunately, dear sister," he then stated with the first upset expression Camilla had seen on his face for several days, "magic such as mine cannot fix everything in the world."

Camilla's nerves ran cold. What should've been a warning instead became the seeds of an idea that sprouted in her mind. These ideas quickly took root and drew on several lingering thoughts for strength. They quickly grew in size and strength, sprouting with several branches that linked to several connecting points. Milliseconds were all it took for the core concept to become a tree of possibilities, all stemming from a few choice actions. The finished product looked like the paradise Camilla had wanted to achieve with her family since she could first remember.

Magic, Camilla's mind rapidly reasoned, _could_ be a key factor in making her happy. She already knew several spells from her dragonborn heritage and training as a Malig Knight, but Leo knew much more from his private tutoring under the theatrical mage Odin. She just had to use magic to complete her goals. That's what Leo was saying!

Camilla finally noted Leo's silence, and realized she had been thinking for several seconds. She gave a quick, "I see," to try and dismiss any suspicion Leo had grown just now. She further bowed to Leo and said with genuine pleasure, "Thank you very much, dear brother."

Camilla looked back up to see Leo give the first smile she had seen since she came into the room. His eyes looked misty and focused on something other than the present. He then replied with a just as genuine, "You're welcome, Sister," before he added, "You are dismissed," with a nod of his head.

Camilla turned from Leo with ten different plans in her brain. By the time she passed out of the throne room doors she had selected the best one possible. It was risky, and it sounded crazy, but it could fix so many problems if it worked. The reward was well worth the danger, and Camilla was willing to take a very big chance at this point. 11 months of being away from the one you loved had lead Camilla to a very morbid realization.

Something had to be done, as soon as possible. With her newfound freedom from official service, Camilla now had oodles of time to figure this out.

"_Magic can't fix everything, Leo?_" she thought to herself as she started back to her personal quarters, a smirk stuck on her lips. "_Well, maybe it will fix what I need it to…_"

* * *

**[CASTLE SHIRASAGI FIELDS]**

"Once more!" An energetic female voice rang out over the open grassland. "Yes, with _feeling_!"

Corrin grunted as she executed a series of battle maneuvers for the sixth time in a row. Her muscles strained as she quickly swung, then parried an imagined blow, darted back and finally thrust at a lower angle into the foe. The air around her whistled in her ears as she ended her maneuvers in a ready stance, blade held up high to block enemy strikes. Her silver hair briefly rose off her back as the wind picked it up and held it aloft for the two nearby watchers to see.

"Good, good!" Corrin breathed heavily as the short-haired Hinoka, the so-called "improper princess" of Hoshido, came over from the side to take a closer look. The elder sister to Corrin walked around Corrin's position, propping up Corrin's arms a bit to make her stance firmer. She gave several nods of approval despite her face appearing not too affected by what she saw.

"Your form is improving rapidly," Hinoka commented to Corrin once her inspection was complete. "Hustle could use some work, though. Don't waste your time with every move, let your actions flow from one to the next. You need to be more agile with this technique, like when you fly with a mount. Every moment counts in battle, remember?"

Corrin silently nodded. As a Pegasus Knight, Hinoka had a lot of practice riding mounts in combat, as well as how to move in different areas of battle. To Corrin, Hinoka's brown eyes always seemed trained on her surroundings, her thin body able to twist in several different ways to get the drop on a foe. It also helped that Hinoka knew how to use bladed weapons like lances and swords quite well on her own. What was harder for Corrin to accept was Hinoka's training style of constant critique and few genuine compliments. She had heard this was how Hinoka had treated the Hoshidan soldiers under her command, but to experience it firsthand was a different matter altogether.

"I am improving, though," Corrin commented back as Hinoka stepped a few paces away. "That's a good sign."

"Yes, it is." Hinoka placed a hand to her chin, the fabric of her red glove rough against bare skin. "But you don't seem driven to improve. You don't have the right energy in your motions. You've got to flow like a river, not smash like a thunderbolt."

"Hinoka!" Corrin and Hinoka both turned to face the other watcher, the young red-haired Shrine Maiden Sakura, as they chastised Hinoka's critical stance with the words, "S-stop making Corrin feel more upset!"

Corrin chuckled at Sakura's attitude because Corrin wasn't used to seeing Sakura speak out. The timid shrine maiden was able to hold gaze with Hinoka for five seconds before she broke off. Sakura's timidity then showed itself when she stuttered out an apologetic "S-s-sorry…"

"Gah, okay!" Hinoka brushed the issue aside with a wave of her hand. "We'll agree that Corrin's improved, alright?" Sakura's quick series of nods made Corrin laugh good-naturedly as she walked over to the younger sister.

"Hey," Corrin asked Sakura, "are you okay? You sound concerned."

"O-of course I'd be concerned!" Sakura replied with clenched fists. "You're working so hard, but I don't want to see you get yourself hurt!" Corrin chuckled again as Hinoka came up to them both and put a hand on Sakura's back. Her fingers quickly rubbed along the fabric of Sakura's robe to try and soothe Sakura's nerves.

"I'm happy you want to see Corrin do well," Hinoka slowly explained to the shy youth, "but some people need to be told how to do things. Without some critiquing, they won't learn otherwise. Corrin here has spent years learning how Nohr soldiers fight. Now that she's living in Hoshido she has to learn our way of battle."

"Not that your way is any better, right?" Corrin shot a look at Hinoka with this remark, to which Hinoka narrowed her eyes and playfully returned, "I'm just stating the facts. Which fighting style is better is your opinion." Corrin had to resist rolling her eyes at Hinoka's unspoken preference to her own kingdom; it came as a consequence of the war for everyone still alive.

Nohr or Hoshido, that was the question. Which kingdom was the better one? Who was the better ruler? Who had the best resources? Who was getting the better end of the alliance? Corrin knew some people pointed fingers whenever things went poorly, and she knew Hinoka sometimes was like that. Leo would be a good representative on the Nohr side, at least back when Leo and Corrin were children.

"Corrin?" The silver-haired sister came back to reality at the sound of Hinako's voice. Corrin paled slightly when she saw two pairs of brown eyes carefully watching her. She instinctively reached up to her face to check for an unseen wound but found no trace of blood or scars.

"You spaced out for a bit there," Hinoka explained with narrowed eyes. She stood up and took a step towards Corrin while asking, "Are you tired? Should we stop for now?"

"No, no, it's…" Corrin paused so she could properly organize her thoughts. She felt she should say something important, but she first had to figure out exactly what. The answer came quickly, but it was hard to get out of her lips.

"I'm just worried," Corrin said, "about my family. My extended family, that is."

Hinoka and Sakura said nothing. Their expressions didn't change, which was a good sign to Corrin. Sakura eventually asked Corrin, "W-what about them is worrying you?"

"Well…" Corrin had to look away from the two sister's faces, unable to withstand eye contact. A part of her conscious said this was not the right time, she should wait for a better moment. That same part of Corrin had been spouting that same line long enough to make the reason seem silly now. Corrin figured she would have to tell people eventually, but she had not wanted to do so right after the coronation. For one thing, relations were still tense between the two kingdoms. For another…

Corrin gave a strong shake of her head. No, now wasn't the time to focus on the bad. Telling other people about this problem would make it better. She wouldn't have to bottle it up inside her anymore.

"I'm worried about one person in particular at Nohr," Corrin clarified to the listening sisters. "Her name is Camilla."

"The Malig Knight?" Hinoka didn't sound tense when she asked this question, but Corrin couldn't bring herself to look at Hinoka. Instead, she just nodded to confirm Hinoka's question, who then asked, "When did you start worrying about her? Actually, why did you start at all?"

"It's been in the back of my mind for a long time now… a really long time," Corrin answered as she looked at the flowing grass. "But it was only recently that I made a big discovery about how Camilla felt about me."

Sakura held her breath for the reason. Hinoka crossed her arms and waited. Corrin turned back to the two and said, "She loves me, with a passion I only dreamed of."

Sakura broke into a smile. "T-That's fine, then! She's a sister, like we are. We love you, too."

Corrin didn't smile back. Hinoka connected the dots faster than her younger sibling and stage-whispered to Sakura, "She means Camilla _loves_ her. As in, she wants to marry Corrin."

Sakura's eyes bugged out once she realized the truth. The priestess's face then turned beet red, which caused Corrin to awkwardly smile in amusement. The concept of two women as a loving couple probably sounded like a blasphemous defilement of the natural order. Sakura's young mind was certainly able to twist that notion further and get some very unsavory results.

In a show of mental strength, Sakura was able to stutter out while still blushing, "I-I'm glad she still l-loves you, Corrin." This turned Corrin's smile into a genuine one, and Hinoka provided her happiness as well with a firm pat on Sakura's shoulder. The priestess jumped at the contact but didn't shoot Hinoka any glares.

"So," Hinoka then asked Corrin with a simple set of words, "what are you going to do about this?"

Corrin looked back at the wide fields as if an answer was hiding amongst the grass. "That's the hard part," she stated after a moment's wait, "I don't know what to do. There are some things I could do, but I don't know which one I _should_ do."

Corrin's hands joined together as she talked, the fingers tapping against each other as a sign of her mental stress. "What would I say to Camilla?" she continued. "How would she feel about me now? The situation isn't very easy to make out, especially since I've been away from Nohr for so long."

Hinoka nodded before she offered her opinion: "I think you should solve this problem out now. Don't leave it hanging any longer. Go to Nohr and talk to her directly."

"What if she hates me?" Corrin countered as she turned to face Hinoka again. "If I demand to speak to her she might refuse me just as strongly."

Hinoka shrugged dismissively, but her eyes betrayed a firm dedication to her belief. "You won't know until you try," she said. "Believe me. You're better off trying and failing rather than not trying at all."

"…" Corrin looked down at Sakura's face for her opinion.

"D-do what you think will make you happy, C-Corrin," Sakura stuttered out as if under a teacher's gaze. "If Camilla means that much to you, then she deserves your time. You'll always regret not talking to her."

The combined efforts of Corrin's two Hoshidan sisters almost made Corrin resolve to depart immediately for Castle Krakenburg. But one big fear held her back with iron chains and heavy weights. She felt her eyes water as a slow breeze flew across the field, the hot air a reflection of Camilla's fiery wrath when it got properly stoked. Corrin did not want to be on the receiving end of that rage, no matter what. If she was forced to face that, Corrin was not sure she could ever recover.

"No," Corrin muttered mostly to herself as she tried and failed to come up with a good solution, "it's not that easy…"

* * *

Night fell over the two kingdoms. Few people stayed out in these hours, and those who did kept out of sight as much as possible. The castles were each one of the last places in their kingdoms to fully sleep, and even then, guards patrolled the battlements for enemies under dim moonlight. Pages and attendants kept a subconscious ear out for signs of distress from their masters and mistresses. The animals that roamed in the darkness hunted at their own pace, free from the daytime's exposing light.

In a dark and mildew-covered chamber deep beneath the Nohr family castle, one person double-checked the lock on the single wooden door before closing it shut and turning around to a foreboding scene. Black lines painted on the stone floor created the image of the Nohr emblem: two spiked crowns joined together side by side, with a single hole in the center. The circle stretched out several feet in diameter, the ink mixed with several substances that produced a nose-curling smell.

The circle's maker, the only person in the chamber, pulled out a small tome with a very worn cover. They stood by a pair of small candles and a mounted torch, which together provided enough light for rereading over the steps of a complicated ritual. The reader's hands trembled as they checked where they were in the procedure, and what they had to do next. When they had finished reading, they placed the tome on the same bare wooden table the candles were on and then moved onto the circle.

The person was careful not to smudge any of the lines as they stepped into the center hole. Surrounded by black foul-smelling ink and stood in a slowly-warming room, they felt sweat run down their skin and soak through their undergarments. As those were the only clothes they had on, they felt as exposed as if they were doing this naked. But this was what the ritual said, so this was what they would do.

The ritual had to be done right. That was the only way to get what they wanted.

The person began the ritual's next step by speaking in an arcane tongue. Words flew from the person's lips, syllables laced with emotion and power that hung in the air like fog. The air grew warmer and warmer as they continued speaking, repeating a chant not spoken for ages. They whispered this chant over and over, repeating it in their mind and with their lips with increasing zeal as the temperature continued to rise.

The speaker's skin began to tingle as they recited the chant. They raised their voice slightly and shut their eyes as some sweat dripped down their skin. Tears leaked from their now-stinging eyes as the heat grew intolerable, and then unbearable. Still the person recited the chant. They had the resolve to do so even when it grew difficult to breathe. Their dedication kept them going, acting as fuel for their fanatical fire.

The air became smoldering as the speaker tasted something sour in their mouth. The speaker knew from the tome that this was supposed to happen, that it was good. They raised their voice to a new octave and shouted the chant one last time. They mentally pleaded to whatever dark powers were listening for aid, for the ability to get what they wanted in this world.

After a heartbeat's silence, the listening powers answered.

The sulfurous air exploded outward with a tremendous _bang_. The speaker was flung to the floor, inside the circle. Their body twisted and spun as black fire danced across their skin. The flames quickly spread across their body, the greatest tongues licking everything below their navel. It was so hot, so hot they thought they would turn to ash and die. Their mouth was stuck open, but they had no voice to scream with.

The heat spread inside their skin, digging into their muscles and bones without mercy. Their screams turned to guttural moans as muscles and ligaments began to shift and bend. They could feel the cracks and pops of their bones buckling under intense pressure, a sign that they were being changed from within. The ritual was supposed to do this, but they hadn't realized it would hurt this much.

The pain ended with one final, heart-wrenching _snap_ that tore the air out of the caster's lungs. The torches and candles snuffed themselves out as what remained of the human tried to breathe normally again. Pain turned into numbness, which then became a different sort of energy. It took them several moments to realize they were still alive, but not the same anymore.

Their eyes adjusted to the darkness – better than they ever remembered. Their nose picked up the ritual emblem's stench very easily now. Their ears ringed in the perpetual silence, their breathing not enough to break through. Slowly, very slowly, they pulled themselves up from the floor. They got as far as a sitting position before they realized they couldn't move their legs. They looked down and briefly lost their breath in shock.

Their undergarments were burned to ash that lay in the circle. Their lower body looked… wrong. Instead of two legs there was something else, a wriggling shape that shouldn't exist on a human being. They couldn't see it properly in the darkness, but they resisted the urge to relight the torch and look at it in the light.

A warmer heat spread from between their legs, their most private place violated by some strange energy. They traced that space with a shaking finger and felt a branding of the Nohr emblem perfectly replicated on their bare flesh.

Initial surprise quickly melted down into rage. The roar of their failure woke up anyone on the upper three floors of the castle who weren't already up from the explosion. Weapons were quickly gathered, armor hastily placed, and muttered curses shared as a small group of soldiers raced down to the stone dungeons.

By some unknown means, King Leo was waiting for them and wearing his usual robes. He appeared worried, but at the same time unsurprised. The servants of Nohr didn't question this as Leo assumed command over the investigation. After a moment to check the locked door, the only one in the dimly-lit hallway, for arcane traps, he allowed the soldiers to bash it down with a concentrated effort. New torches were carried in as the rotting aroma filtered out into the halls.

Leo looked at the scene, several choice elements revealing just what he was seeing. He muttered, "Dark magic…" under his breath as the guards scoured the room's four corners for a culprit. The said culprit was gone. They had left a hole in the stone wall that led to a hastily-dug tunnel straight through the ground. The tunnel went up towards the open sky and out of sight…

* * *

**Alright, that's all for now. I know this was a lot to look at, and I hope it was still enjoyable for you.**

**Draconos is taking off!**


	3. Chapter 3 Reunited and Reborn

**Hello, readers. Here is the final chapter of "Eternally Bonded". Before I continue, the writer who worked with me on this, going by the username "knowledgeseeker01" on the other website, has written a message for me to give to you.**

**"**Knowledgeseeker01 wishes to extend a heartfelt apology for the significant delay between Chapter Two and Chapter Three. This was never the intention. This was originally meant to be released during the end of Summer or beginning of Fall 2019. Unfortunately, there were circumstances in regards to this delay.

A tragedy took place in Knowledgeseeker01's family shortly after receiving the rough draft. Knowledgeseeker01's father had been suffering from multiple health issues for years which culminated in a heart attack. That ultimately led to his death. This caused Knowledgeseeker01 to lose motivation in the Chapter Three proofreading. Knowledgeseeker01 never intended for the hiatus to last this long, but a lot of time passed.

After a significant hiatus, Knowledgeseeker01 finally returned to complete the job. We are happy to present the conclusion to "Eternally Bonded". We both hope you enjoy. Please leave a comment on your thoughts and have a great day. Be safe**."**

**I don't have much more to say beyond that, so let's begin the chapter.**

* * *

**Eternally Bonded**

**Chapter 3: Reunited and Reborn**

"_To Lady CORRIN of Hoshido, sister and friend of LEO, King of Nohr on this four hundred and twenty-fifth year of our Fate, _

_Greetings._

_I hope you are living healthy and happily in Hoshido, and I hypothesize you have learned much about the workings of your birth country since King Ryoma's coronation. Truly, the alliance between Nohr and Hoshido has proven profitable for both sides. Where once the borders were closed tight, the peoples of our kingdoms give each other respect and even generosity. You have no doubt observed this firsthand during your travels._

_Unfortunately, I must break your studying period with a request for your aid in a dangerous situation. I fear this is something I should have told before now. What has recently happened was the last of a series of events that have broken the mount's back. In summary, Lady Camilla has left Nohr and has not returned. She had not mentioned this departure to anyone before she left and gave no clues as to where she went. Her personal wyvern, Ithiashi, is still in the stables and in a melancholy mood. I believe she senses something has happened to her mistress._

_This comes, as I have already mentioned, after a long list of irregularities I have noticed in Lady Camilla's behavior since the war's end. Our sister's retainers have privately informed me that Camilla suffered from nightmares almost daily before she disappeared. Consequently, Camilla's behavior towards everyone grew more militaristic, strict and commanding as her inner sanity most likely wore down. Unfortunately, I regret to admit that I was unable to help her. My royal duties required most of my attention, and I failed her._

_I was not there for Camilla when she needed help, and now she is gone. I am prepared to pay the consequences of that failure when the time comes. I feel Camila needs another member of her family right now, and I believe you are the most fit for this task. I know Camilla treated you like a daughter, a sister, and possibly even more. You always were her favorite. Thus, you should be the one she would most want to see if she has suffered some great tragedy. Please respond to this message, or come and visit Nohr, as soon as you can. I do not want another death in our family._

_May the Fates guide you, as they guide us all along the paths of Destiny._

_Your Loving Brother,_

_Leo_"

* * *

**[CASTLE KRAKENBURG]**

**[EIGHT DAYS LATER]**

For two of the many guards at Castle Krakenburg, the day began like any other. They woke up with the sunrise, had their usual meals, donned their arms and armor, and took their posts watching over a now-peaceful land. They watched the land with extra care today, wondering if the royal guest King Leo had informed the castle's populace about would be coming. In the later morning, as the Sun climbed farther up into the heavens, these two guards suddenly turned their eyes towards the sky. Their trained ears could hear the telltale beating of large wings.

A winged shape grew out of a black dot in the sky as it came closer to a cleared space on the surface. The shape grew further into the gray-colored Pegasus "Melaintha", clad in red battle armor and sporting saddle for its trusted rider. Corrin pressed her legs a bit tighter against the winged creature's side as they both descended to the ground. The trained animal landed with a few last flaps of its wings, and then gave a short snort as it smelled the unfamiliar air of the greater city of Windmire. Corrin patted Melaintha's neck to comfort her as she also noticed two men approach from a standing position at one end of the space.

Both men were tall, but the similarities ended there. The closer man had long white hair, brown skin and a dark glint in his brown eyes as he looked right at Corrin. The other man gave a short smile that reflected a burst of sunlight as it bounced off his golden armor and lit up his short brown hair and lighter skin. The first man had a silver bow slung around his back, a weapon that Corrin knew well from a previous battle; the second man's armor had no visible weapon, but Corrin knew this man as a theatrical sorcerer with enough power to back up his self-created stage presence.

"Greetings, Lady Corrin." The sorcerer gave a respectable bow to Corrin as she slipped off Melaintha's back with practiced ease.

"Odin," Corrin responded to the sorcerer with a short nod before she turned to the other man and said, "Niles." Neither man showed objection to this treatment, though frankly Niles's face always looked sinister to Corrin. This was most likely because of Niles's less-than-morally-sound assassinations in the name of the now-King Leo of Nohr.

"The King is waiting, Lady Corrin," Niles said without losing his smile. "Please, follow me. Odin will take care of your mount."

As Corrin stepped towards Niles, she gave Odin a brief nod with the words, "Thank you Odin."

The sorcerer smiled back at her as he went to the winged horse with an extended hand. Melaintha sniffed it and drew back a pace, the scent alien to her Hoshidan home. Odin started to whisper to the animal as Corrin and Niles entered through a door and into Castle Krakenburg proper. Niles did not linger in the corridors and smaller chambers as he led Corrin to wherever Leo was waiting.

Granted, Corrin did not need to see the sights here. She could see things had changed, of course, but there were still markings of when she had been a part of the Nohr family. Some of the windows show the same scenes, banners with the Nohr crest hanging on either side. A human-sized sculpture of a curving tree brought Corrin's mind back to her childhood and one of the few times she walked through here before her isolation in the Northern Fortress.

Corrin blinked the memories away before tears started flowing. Had Niles seen anything? If he had, he chose to keep his mouth shut. The initial trace of distrust in Corrin's mind towards this man lingered as Niles apparently reached his destination. He opened a set of reinforced wooden double doors that stood as high as two men and curved down to the floor. Inside was a large library filled with row after row of books and scrolls, the Nohr emblem carved into the marble floor with purple stones.

The large wooden desk placed at the center of the Nohr emblem got Corrin's attention rather quickly, mostly because she saw King Leo standing behind it with a book in hand. A small pile of additional books, as well as a few rolled-up scrolls, rested on one side of the desk. Leo looked deep in thought; he did not react at all to the sound of Niles and Corrin's arrival.

"My King," Niles said to Leo in the same tone he used with Corrin, "Lady Corrin is here." This announcement finally caused Leo to look up from his reading. He gave a polite smile to Corrin and snapped the book shut in his hand.

"Excellent." Leo put the book down on top of several others. He then turned to his assassin and said, "Leave us, Niles. This matter is private." Niles bowed to his King and did not ask any questions as he left, though Corrin noticed a second look he sent her way. Before Corrin could gather the willpower to ask what exactly had made Niles so interested in her, the ninja closed the library doors behind him.

With the two step-siblings now alone, Leo focused his attention on Corrin. His voice turned firm as he asked Corrin, "Do you have the letter?"

Corrin immediately dug a hand into her armor's pockets and pulled out a well-folded piece of parchment. The seal of Nohr had been broken in half as a sign it had been opened. The paper crinkled in Corrin's hand as she drew it out into the light.

"Please tell me it isn't true," Corrin urged Leo as she held the letter in one hand and walked up to the sprawling desk. Her next question, a soft-spoken, "Has Camilla really gone?"

"…" Corrin received no immediate answer. Instead, she saw Leo bite his lip as if he was attempting to formulate a response. Corrin did not attempt to interrupt him.

Seconds ticked by as Leo took a slow, heavy breath, not looking Corrin in the eyes. His eventual answer came equally slow: "Camilla has not been seen in Nohr for eight days."

"_Eight days!_" Corrin's fists clench, the letter crunched beneath her anger-fueled strength. "And you ask me to come _now_! What the _hell_ is wrong with you?!"

Leo now looked Corrin in the eyes, his own face lacking the fiery passion Corrin currently projected against him. "Would you really feel better if I had asked for your help immediately?"

"Of course! I could have helped you look," Corrin snapped. "I could have comforted other people! I could have done so many things to help you!"

In response, Leo simply said, "No."

Corrin opened her mouth to snap a reply, only to stop short when Leo stated, "You would have been just as afraid and worried as the rest of us."

"Why, you…!" Corrin grit her teeth together. The urge to slam a hand either against the table or Leo's lower jaw was strong. Very strong. Thankfully, cooler thoughts prevailed. Instead, Corrin settled for an angry grunt to show her disagreement with Leo's judgement. Even so, they both knew it was not an entirely incorrect judgment of Corrin's character.

"Organizing a search-and-rescue effort takes time, Corrin," Leo added. "I have tried to find her myself and I have failed. It pains me to admit it,, but I failed her, and I would not have sent for your help if it was not necessary."

"Fine, fine," Corrin quickly spat as she rolled her shoulders back to clear some portion of the tension in her body and restore some mental discipline. "Have you found anything about where Camilla is? Or, where she went?"

"She went south." Leo took one of the scrolls from the table and rolled it out for Corrin to see. The scroll revealed a detailed map of Nohr, with the surrounding kingdoms sporting sections at the far edges. Leo pointed to one part of a large patch of forest trees in one of these sections. "A trail in the nearby cliffs and forest goes in that direction, but the trail faded the farther away from Nohr the searchers got. I highly suspect Camilla has left Nohr entirely."

"Then, where has she gone?" Corrin asked as she looked over the map from the other side. "I would have known if she was in Hoshido."

"I suspect two places," Leo answered as he moved his finger to point at each one in turn, "the countries of Cheve or Nestra. Both were places of conflict in the war. I am not sure which one Camilla would prefer."

"Which one is closer?"

Leo hesitated. "Distance is only one factor in a search, Corrin. We must also consider how the locals will react to us being there." Corrin gave him a questioning look, to which he sighed irritably. "No one will just let us walk all over their property to look for a missing woman, even if that woman is the daughter of a noble."

"Okay, then." Corrin turned her eyes back to the map with no response to Leo's statement. "What do we know about Nestra?"

"I have found some of our former father's journals that mention it, especially the city of Cyrkensia. He enjoyed that place's singers and went there for good entertainment with our – my mother, I should say."

"Garon…" Corrin's anger came back at the mere mention of that name. A bad taste grew in her mouth as she said, "Even now, his damn scheming hangs over us."

"That may be truer than you suspect, sister." Corrin's head shot back up, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. Leo gave a moment's silence before he continued. "The night Camilla was last seen was the same night someone completed a dark ritual in the basement of this castle. The proof came from a tome found inside the same room, a tome carrying Nohr's emblem in the pages."

Corrin's jaw dropped, and then snapped shut like a trap. "How does this…?" She couldn't finish the sentence, nor the sudden and heart-wrenching thought of, "You don't think Camilla would…?"

Leo shook his head and quietly said, "I do not know for sure. Desperation drives people to do dangerous things. But the pieces point down the path you are suggesting."

Corrin's eyes turned away from Leo and looked out the window. "Why?" she asked both the sky and the room. "Why would she do it?"

"There are two ways I can see: hatred, or love." Corrin did not see Leo's momentary smirk before he said, "I can sense both ways mirrored in you, Corrin."

Corrin's cheeks grew hot, her adult mind seeing a different scenario, and reason, for both emotions. Her glare grew sharp enough to cut through Leo's composed face. "This is not the time or place to discuss my feelings, _brother_."

"No," Leo said as, strangely enough, he gave Corrin a sorrowful smile, "this is an excellent time. If you want to find Camilla so badly, you will need to understand two important things. What is your true attachment towards her? How will you act when you see her again? You will have to answer both questions on your journey."

Corrin's eyes narrowed, and then widened at the implication of Leo's words. "I can go look for her?" she asked with bated breath.

"You can, and you will. That is the main reason I wrote the letter to you," Leo stated in a matter of fact tone.

Corrin leaned back from the table, simultaneously elated and deeply concerned. She reasoned this was a choice Leo had made in private. He was smart enough to realize when things were beyond his control. He did not look happy with this fact, which Corrin understood. Leo was a closer relative to Camilla by blood, but Corrin had been closer by, curse the word, "love". That word might have been what drove Camilla to complete this ritual and run away from her home.

Corrin looked down at the map and judged the countries adjacent to Nohr. She pointed to Nestra and said, "I'll look here first." A burst of doubt caused Corrin to then look at Leo and quickly add, "Unless you think Cheve is better."

Leo nodded in confirmation. "Cheve has more hiding places at a first glance. There is also legend that people who grew up there believe in: the souls of the dead travel into the sky and become stars that watch over their beloved far below."

Valid points, if lacking in facts. Corrin had not heard that legend before, and it sounded important enough to keep in mind here. Someone who had used dark magic, and then fled from their home, would look for a safe place to hide. A forest or mountain offered more direct options than a city or village, namely by the lack of people who would spread word about what was happening there. If Camilla really had used dark magic, a jungle would be a safer place to hide if she knew how to take care of herself.

Corrin was sure Camilla could take care of herself anywhere she went. It was everything that got in her path that was in danger. And yet, uneasiness and nervousness still clenched tightly on her heart. She needed to find Camilla and soon.

"Alright," Corrin quickly announced, "I'll take some people with me, no more than two. We can all travel on horses to avoid suspicion." She stood up from the desk and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Are you willing to join me, Leo?"

"I appreciate the offer," Leo replied with a broken flash in his eyes, "but I cannot come. My role as King is too important to step away from, even for a family matter." Leo stood up from the desk and put his thin hands behind his back. "I will provide maps and magical scrolls to guide and protect you and your companions."

Corrin smiled at her brother, the kingly stature clear in his posture, and a brother's love marked deep in his face. "I cannot thank you enough for this, Leo," she said, and she meant it entirely.

"If you can find Camilla," Leo returned as he walked around the desk, "and bring her safely back to us, I will thank you twice as much."

Leo put a hand on Corrin's armored shoulder, his grip firm and silently demanding. Corrin felt his emotions bleed through his body, into his touch, and finally into her body. The raw feelings Corrin sensed in her brother, hidden beneath his kingly countenance, slung themselves on her muscles like an extra coat of armor plating.

"Fate's blessings, Corrin." Leo's salutation, a saying spoken among the common farmers and merchants of both Nohr and Hoshido, carried just as much weight spoken from the mouth of a monarch. Corrin knew even more so now that Leo trusted her with what he so wanted to do himself. It fell to her to satisfy both of their united urges, to bring back the one they wanted to speak to and spend time with once again. The lost sister, the missing companion, and, to Corrin's heart, the love of her life.

She drew Leo in and held him close. For a minute, or maybe an hour, they embraced each other as equals.

* * *

**[CHEVE FOREST]**

**[FOUR DAYS LATER]**

Three horses with brown fur and red saddles walked in single file along a narrow forest trail. The trees with their branching roots provided some impediments to the beasts, and the sides were regularly populated with shrubbery or moss-covered stones. The leading horse moved slowly, keeping its eyes peeled along with the black-coated and blue-haired ninja sitting atop it. The ninja, Kaze of the Igasato-based family clan, looked farther around than the horse, his sights on potential resting spots and hidden dangers prowling this choking landscape.

Kaze spared a glance behind him every so often to monitor the current status of the other two horses and their riders. The center horse had Lady Corrin atop it, her head hung slightly down as she looked at her horse's neck. No, Kaze corrected himself each time he saw Corrin do this, she was staring into space in deep thought. She had a lot to think about, for sure; this mission was mostly focused on her, but she had asked for help in the task. A woman as strong as Camilla was certainly strong, and Kaze believed Corrin would need all the help she could get.

That help was brought, along with Kaze, by the younger knight on the rearmost horse. Kaze knew this man, Silas, quite well. Their friendship had first formed during the war, after Silas sided with Corrin over his home kingdom of Nohr. Kaze had also heard rumors that Silas was a friend from Corrin's childhood, and that certain circumstances had kept them apart. Against how romantic this sounded, Silas had not done or said anything implying love to Corrin since the journey began. Like Kaze, Silas was a retainer first and a friend second. The youth's unruly cerulean hair stuck out from his head in a curling wave as he whispered something to his horse's ear.

Kaze turned his mind back to the trail. The path wound along a curving trail, going around large natural obstacles and passing over small free-flowing streams that cut through the jungle ground like knives. Birds twittered and tweeted in the sky from their hidden positions in the tree canopy, said trees close enough together to discourage going off the path. The air was humid, sunlight breaking through the treetops every so often.

The riders did not speak to each other, each set on their own duties. Kaze focused on leading the party for this day, following Corrin's request when they had set off at dawn. Corrin either thought about the end outcome of their search or pulled out and looked at one of a few folded maps of Cheve Leo had generously provided from Nohr's library. Silas watched the three horses with trained eyes and looked behind them every so often in case something unwanted was following them.

Close to midday, Kaze felt the air change as he and his horse walked through it. It became thicker, the humidity more prominent. The horse raised its ears at the sound of running water and picked up its pace. The other horses noticed this burst of speed, and then heard and felt the same things themselves. They joined their leader's determined trot as their riders felt the new air flow over their armored skin.

The source of this new air came from outside the trail, hidden by a tall grove. Kaze led his horse through the grove and off the trail, as interested as the animal in finding a resting spot, or at least a potential chance to drink. What they found after several minutes searching and pushing plants aside was both put together. In the side of what must be a small mountain literally shrouded from the trail by excessive flora, water bubbled out in a continuous stream into a large steaming pool, and then flowed down a small indent in the pool's edge to a river that ran to the east out of sight.

"A hot spring!" Silas voiced the party's general opinion when he saw it for himself. "This is unexpected, in a good way."

Kaze, off his horse and searching, eventually reported to the others, "There are no signs around to mark it." He came back with a questioning glance at the natural bath and commented, "It must be open to anyone that comes by."

Corrin rolled her shoulders back and felt a kink pop in her muscles. She commented, "I'd say we can use a break," as she realized just how stiff her legs were after a morning of hard riding. Even so, her sympathy towards the two men with her directed her to say to her retainers, "You two can go first, if you want."

Silas instantly shook his head. "No, you need it first. You need your strength for when we find Camilla. Who knows how much help she will need?" This direct reasoning earned Silas a quick glare from Kaze, but the ninja did not vocally object to the word choice. When Corrin looked at Kaze for his opinion, she got a swift agreeing nod.

"Well," Corrin said as she looked back at the spring, "since you both insist, I will use the spring first. Actually," she suddenly realized, "we should let the horses drink their fill first. They've been hard at work since we started, they deserve a break more than we do."

Kaze and Silas both concurred to this choice, and so the horses had their fill of the hot spring's water. They filled their bellies with the liquid, drinking long and deep in their unique manner with happily-flicking tails. When they finished, Kaze and Silas brought them back and led the horses back out to the trail. A swift promise came from Kaze that Corrin was to come out when she finished and guard the horses with one of the men. The other would bathe, and the third would bathe after that, so that two people were always protecting the horses from harm.

Once humans and animals were gone, Corrin's ears were filled with the spring's natural choir, filled as it was with singers of varying vocal ranges. The sounds spurred her heart and made her tongue feel thick in her mouth. She thirsted both for a drink and a bath, and she could satisfy at least one of those demands.

Corrin's eagerness to rest in warm water after four days of rough forest travel led her to quickly pull off her armor, weapons, and undergarments and pile them in a few small heaps. This was not a natural hot spring like in Nohr or Hoshido; Corrin would not likely see this place again in her lifetime, so she wished to enjoy this bath as much as possible. Eventually, all her clothes were off, with her weapons in easy reach in case something else chose to walk in here.

Corrin let out a low, pleasured groan as her body slipped into the pool. The warm liquid spread its touch along her legs and lower body with a thousand hands. The bliss continued up her stomach and arms once they were beneath the surface. Corrin kept her head above the water as she sat her buttocks against a small outcrop and placed her feet down on the pool's bottom. The tips of her breasts also poked out of the water, nipples hardening as her body's private spaces started to tingle.

Corrin leaned her head back against the pool's edge, closed her eyes and slowly sighed through her slightly-open mouth. Her sore muscles first screamed their pain against the heat, and then calmed down to gentle murmurs. The natural soundscape grew louder to Corrin's ears, exposed as she was to the elements in this isolated sanctum. Truly, this had been worth the effort, and would further be very helpful for when Camilla was found. Silas was right that Corrin needed all her strength for when that moment came.

She had to be ready. She had to be strong.

* * *

Something rustled very close by. Corrin's eyes flickered but did not fully open. Her body was too wrapped in the spring's embrace to react to the disturbance. Then, it came again from another direction. With reluctance, Corrin raised her head and looked around her with careful eyes. Nothing unusual popped out to her, and no further rustling came from the surrounding growth.

"Kaze? Silas?" Corrin's voice sounded meek to her ears, so she raised it a little bit. "Guys? Are you there?"

No answer. Corrin's senses primed themselves as memories of tactical training came back to her. Unexpected sounds were signs of an ambush, and her companions were not near enough to provide immediate help. They could be here in mere moments, though, and that thought made Corrin hesitate in making a move. Perhaps she could rest for another moment here, and then get dressed again. Kaze and Silas wouldn't mind so much, would they?

Unfortunately for Corrin, a sudden _crack_ of branches signaled the arrival of a massive, coiling intruder. Corrin leapt out of the pool as more coils slammed into the ground between her and her gear. She started to run forward only for a smaller coil to wrap around her legs. Corrin let out a shocked, "Hrragh?!" as she fell forward, but that same coil slithered up her skin with incredible speed. Corrin's legs were snapped together by a great force, followed by her arms being pressed against her sides.

Corrin's ears roared with blood, adrenaline pumping through her veins as she tried to break free of the coil's grip. The coils brought Corrin's body up to a standing position, apparently uncaring of her struggles. Corrin almost stopped struggling in shock as an eerily familiar female voice announced, "I've got you!" She looked up towards the voice but couldn't see the person clearly as the coils tightened around her body.

The person came close enough for Corrin to see them clearly. Purple hair covered one of their eyes, their body very clearly a woman's. The more Corrin looked at her the more familiar she appeared. The well-developed chest, the prominent abdominal muscles and dark purple eyes fill off points of a checklist in Corrin's mind. The final point in that list was filled when the woman whispered in a smooth voice, "You are a glorious catch, my darling Corrin."

"Camilla…" Corrin could barely breathe out the name of this woman, the one she had searched for. She found it hard to speak with the coils pressing against her naked body. Camilla's own naked body being completely exposed made Corrin's cheeks burn. Finally, and most surprisingly, Camilla's legs and feet were not there anymore. Beneath her thighs, where a purple-colored Nohr emblem glistened on her navel, was the long coiling tail of a purple-colored snake.

Those same coils were now wrapped around Corrin's body and holding her in place. It took Corrin a few moments to realize the coil's grip was constricting, but not crushing. Regardless, their hold over Corrin was absolute. It would be pointless to try and escape, so Corrin tried to remain calm. But, the mere sensation of being bound against her will made Corrin breathe faster.

"You still recognize me!" Camilla clapped her hands together and gave a gleeful smile. "Even with this new body, you still remember me!" She moved her face even closer to Corrin as her smile grew larger. "You have no idea how happy that makes me. I must still be the lovely woman I always was to you, right?"

Corrin's answer became a loud "Hurk!" as Camilla suddenly leaned into Corrin's personal space. A sharp, spicy scent slammed into Corrin's nostrils with the force of a hammer. This made Corrin unprepared for when Camilla extended a long, forked tongue from her mouth and licked Corrin's cheek again and again. Corrin's surprise was stronger than pure fear, the action more unusual than terrifying.

"Oh, your skin tastes so heavenly." Camilla pulled back after this risqué comment as Corrin's blush grew even more prominent on her face. "I love it," Camilla continued, "I love _you_ so much! More than ever, I love all that you are."

Camilla's coils – Corrin understood now that this snake's body was under Camilla's control – tightened further. The grip grew stronger, but it was still gentle. How much longer would that last? Was this a consequence of the ritual Camilla had done back in Nohr? How much like a snake, like a predator, had Camilla become because of it?

"Please, Camilla," Corrin quietly pleaded to her transformed former adopted sister "don't hurt me."

Camilla drew her upper body back. Her coils rhythmically clenched and release around Corrin's body as Camilla postulated, "You think I'm going to kill you?" When Corrin did not give an answer, Camilla's voice dropped a few decibels as she asked her sibling, "Are you _afraid_ of me?"

Corrin did not know how to answer that. This was Camilla here, Corrin's old friend, former sibling and the love of her heart. But this was also a half-woman, half-snake creature Corrin had never seen in her life. Torn between screaming for her retainer's help and trying to talk Camilla down before she ate Corrin for lunch, the young warrior princess admitted, "I'm more surprised you would use magic like this."

Camilla snapped her body forward, Corrin's eyes drawn to her former step-sister's large pair of breasts as they bounced a few feet in front of her eyes. Camilla then slapped a hand over one breast and squeezed it like a ripe fruit as she declared, "Magic was what I was missing! I had tried to convince you of my love with words, and sometimes even actions, but they all failed. My skills in the arcane are not as great as Leo's, but they were enough for me to change my body like this."

Corrin looked down at the point where Camilla's human half seamlessly melded with her snake half and asked, "What is this change? Are you part snake now?"

"A 'lamia', beloved," Camilla chuckled as she released her hold on her own bosom. "This body is made of my greatest desires, my every being molded into this new form. You are one of the first set of human eyes to look upon it."

At the words "one of them", Corrin whipped her neck around as best as she could. "Where's Kaze?" She sharply inquired. "Where's Silas?"

"Your retainers are sleeping peacefully nearby," Camilla vaguely answered with a short movement of her hand toward the pathway back out to the forest trail. Her tone turned sincere as she then said, "They are not dead. I wouldn't kill them to get to you. I just needed them out of the way so no one would… interrupt our session."

Corrin looked to the path as her imagination went into overdrive. She imagined the two men lying broken, or dead, on the forest floor surrounded by the corpses of their horses. Fear now took hold over Corrin's mind, and she whirled back to Camilla with an angry look.

"Don't hurt them any further, you hear me?" Corrin's demand made Camilla's smile nearly drop off her face. When Corrin added the words, "They aren't a threat to you! You only want me, right?" Camilla's smile came right back.

"You're right, dear!" Camilla chuckled again as her coils squeezed and shifted against Corrin's chest. "It's you I want, and now I have you in my coils. I can feel every twitch of your well-developed, sensual, succulent body." Camilla's coils then shifted back from Corrin's breasts to let them hang out to open air. Camilla leaned her face down to these breasts and rubbed a hand along them. "You've grown in all the right places since I last met you."

Corrin had to hold back a moan by biting her tongue as Camilla rubbed bare fingers along Corrin's nipples. Camilla's touch felt so good, so _right_ when wrapped in her embrace like this…

Camilla appeared to feel Corrin's mental conflict, the drive to give in to lust locked in battle against the common sense to run away and get help. The transformed Malig Knight drew her hand back from Corrin's glorious bosom and instead placed it on her cheek. This got Corrin's full attention as the sisters stared into each other's eyes.

"You don't have to tell me how you feel, Corrin," Camilla admitted. "I can feel your rapid heartbeat and see your blush clear as day." Camilla's coils tickled Corrin's thighs and spine in a way that made Corrin squeak like a mouse.

"Camilla," Corrin got out as she tried to regain her clarity against these sensual touches, "why did you perform the ritual?"

"The ritual transformed my body," Camilla explained as her other hand rubbed Corrin's still-wet hair. "What you see here is my desires, my inner lust, made real. Now you see all of me, all my love wrapped up in a scaly bow."

Corrin looked down at the coils, now wrapped up to her neck with gentle and precise movements. A quick twist could crush Corrin's neck, but her heart says that won't happen. Her comment of, "It's an odd present," caused Camilla to smile in amusement.

"Oh, this is just the start." Camilla brought her face up to Corrin's, dropping her voice to a confidential whisper of "My new body has one more, very special gift just for you. I can make us whole, my Corrin. We can become one in body, mind and spirit. Doesn't that sound amazing?"

"Are…" Corrin felt a chill crawl up her spine as she figured out the implication. She hesitantly asked, like a child under pressure, "Are you going to _absorb_ me?"

Camilla smiled before kissing Corrin's cheek. "I would prefer the word 'bonding' over 'that' word. However, I won't lie, the correct term is 'Absorption', When the absorption is complete, a perfect union is formed between the participants. Lamias can only form such a union with only one person. You, dearest Corrin, are the person I've chosen."

"So, Leon was right…" Corrin attempted to look down, away from those penetrating eyes of the woman she loves. "I really am the one you wanted to see."

"Leo always was the most intelligent of our family," Camilla chuckled. She delicately grabbed Corrin's cheeks in her fingers and pulled her gaze back to her eyes. "Now, what do you think of my plan, my dear? How wonderful does our absorption, our union, sound to you?"

"We can't do that!" Corrin quickly admitted despite her heart's earnest declaration that they could. "No one would like it! We'd be shamed wherever we go!"

"Shamed? Shamed?!" Camilla bared her teeth at the thought, and Corrin saw those teeth were now fanged like a wyvern's. "Shame would be the least of our worries! We would be free from shame, law and duty! All those things that ruined our family would no longer hurt us! Don't you want that kind of freedom?!"

"…" Corrin didn't confirm or deny she did want what Camilla was promising. Camilla noticed that and continued to press her points.

"We would live in harmony," the lamia told her sister, sincerely and with a pleading tone. "Our love would not be held back any longer."

Corrin shook her head as many familiar faces, people who might reject this union, came to her mind. "We aren't the only people that matter here," she admitted. "What would Leo say? Or Ryoma? We could never go home to our families again."

"They will live on without us, darling," Camilla stated with the belief there would be no objection. "We can live on the border, moving and interacting as we pleased. We can be close and not be seen."

Corrin closed her eyes as she tried to figure things out during this lust-filled hugging. She soon got out the simple question, "Would we hurt anyone?"

"Only if they tried to hurt us," Camilla answered. "Or," the lamia added with a sharp flick of her tail's end, "if we needed to eat. I am strong enough now to keep you safe, as I had promised you so long ago and what I have always been doing for you."

Corrin's heart lurched. Tears sprang to her eyes and broke through to stream down her cheeks. All the times Camilla had aided, helped or supported Corrin came back in one gigantic rush of emotion. Sadness for temporary pains, joy for shared triumphs, and the lifelong bonds of sisterhood that had remained unbroken through a great war drove Corrin to silently weep. She wept in amazement that Camilla had done all this for Corrin's sake, and in sadness that Camilla had sacrificed so much of herself in the sake of love.

Corrin felt tainted, unworthy of such pure admiration. She had walked away from her adoptive family home for the sake of her birthright. She had crushed the emotions of several people for the sake of satisfying her own. She had put herself before others by joining Hoshido, her choice affecting the livelihood of two neighboring kingdoms. She had been forced to watch people who trusted her die in grisly, brutal fighting.

How could someone marked with so much death, so much sorrow, be worthy of this love?! Why was Corrin worthy of this happy ending to her struggles? The answer remained hidden the more Corrin searched for it, her head aching from the mental strain.

"Corrin!" Camilla's voice came from far away but growing stronger with every word. "Don't cry, please! Your big sister's here. She'll always be here."

A pair of arms wrapped around Corrin's head and drew her face into a pair of full breasts. This very familiar act pierced a second well of sorrow in Corrin's subconscious, and the entrapped emotions streamed free like a burst dam. Corrin's weeps turned to sobs, in replication of her private conversation with Camilla in the Hoshidan throne room at the end of a great moment in her birth family's history. Just like then, Corrin now let her tears and cries fall into the gaping crevice of Camilla's chest, her former sister bearing all the emotional baggage with only a sad smile on her face.

The tears lessened, and then stopped. The sobs quieted to sniffles, and then vanished completely. Corrin's sorrow was completely drained, but she did not pull herself away from Camilla just yet. She took several moments to breathe, and then asked her sister "Kaze and Silas will be allowed to leave, yes?"

"Yes." Camilla rubbed her sister's hair like when they were children. "I will use my magic to manipulate their memories," she told Corrin. "They will think you chose to stay here with me for the rest of your life, living in hiding to protect me. They will be sure to tell everyone else the same."

Satisfied with this answer, and that Camilla was telling the truth, Corrin brought her head up to look her sister in the eyes. "Camilla, I…" She had to take a breath in her fatigue before she could say, "I love you with all my heart."

Camilla's smile lit up her face as she replied, "I know you do, my beautiful Corrin. You don't need to tell me." She then grabbed Corrin's cheeks with her hands again and raised her lower coils up at the same time. Corrin ended up hung in midair in her sister's grip, the face she loved so much once again mere inches from her own. "However," Camilla cautiously asked her, "do you truly accept your fate?"

"If absorbing me is what is needed, I accept it," Corrin promised. "I will not struggle or call out for help. You may make me yours, dear sister."

Camilla felt Corrin's steady heartbeat and even breath through her thick coils. She knew that Corrin was not lying. But there was one last thing the lamia felt she must do to confirm what Corrin just said.

"Show me," Camilla urged Corrin in a voice as quiet as the wind, "in one last kiss. Then, we shall be Eternally Bonded."

No further incentive was needed for either woman to close their eyes and open their lips to the other. Fire danced through Corrin's veins at her sister's kiss, the serpentine coils undulating at a far faster pace all over Corrin's adult body. Camilla's tongue tasted spicy as it rubbed across Corrin's mouth, its longer length and forked ends providing new sensations to Corrin's mouth as their kiss deepened into a lustful display.

Then, suddenly, Camilla pulled back and broke the kiss. The glazed look on her visible eye told Corrin that the time had come. Camilla's coils brought Corrin upright and above Camilla's navel, the Nohr sigil seeming brighter from the fresh coat of sweat on Camilla's body. Camilla took long breaths as her eyelids flickered rapidly. Corrin watched with growing amazement as, before her eyes, the bonding point between Camilla's upper and lower halves began to split open.

Like a blooming flower, the flesh just beneath the Nohr sigil spread out and apart. Camilla's inner body opened to reveal a hole inside her. No, not a hole, a space. A human-sized space inside the coils that let out warm air with every breath Camilla took. Pink muscles were coiled like tight ropes, thick and strong. The same spicy scent came from the space's air, more powerful due to the raw chemicals in the lamia's animal half.

Corrin looked at this space and gave in to her destiny. This was what Fate had planned for her, and she accepted its outcome. She let her body relax in Camilla's coils and gave herself over to her sister.

Camilla continued to breathe deeply and slowly as she lowered Corrin feet-first into the space. The first touch of the space's walls, made by Corrin's toes as the lamia's coils released their holds, sent shivers up Corrin's spine. Camilla breathed deeper once Corrin's feet were fully inside the space: Corrin could barely breathe herself in awe at what was happening to her. When Corrin's thighs, and the space between them, entered the space, the wet touch of the muscled walls produced rippling tingles in her core.

In anticipation of what would happen next, Corrin stuck her hands to her sides so they could easily slide into the warm space. She reflexively closed her eyes and let out a shuddering breath as she laid her head back on the coils supporting her. Her sister's chiseled abs felt as comfortable as ever despite their chiseled appearance. A pause in Camilla's breathing prompted Corrin to open her eyes again and look up at Camilla's smiling gaze.

"You still like my abs," Camilla commented with a childish wink. "They're going to be yours as well very soon, darling. No exercise needed!"

"I look forward to it." Corrin's comment turned into a pleasured gasp as Camilla suddenly drew her a few inches deeper inside the enveloping coils. Her core burned hotter, her fingers wiggling as best they could in so tight an enclosure.

Corrin's chest entered the space a few slow moments later. Now nearly fully engulfed, Corrin looked up at Camilla's face for what she knew would be the last time. She saw her sister locked in concentrated ecstasy; Camilla's mouth was puckered up in a small "O" that clearly signified arousal. This made Corrin happy, both for the fact that Camilla was doing so much for her, and that she could provide so much happiness in return.

Corrin closed her eyes from the world as the back of her head touched warm, wet muscle. She heard the space above her close back up as Camilla gave one last heaving breath. Then all Corrin heard was the steady _lub-dub_ of Camilla's heartbeat as the space's walls began to move. The muscle's touch against Corrin's bare skin produced more sensations than the coils did.

Corrin's hands stick tightly to the muscles. Unable to wiggle her fingers anymore, she felt the undulating body around her spread over her hands and swallow them up. The princess snaps her eyes open to look at her enveloped limbs. Her eyes are able to see the pink muscles, her sweat-coated body, and a long trailing passage leading deeper into Camilla's body. Corrin forces her eyes back to her hands and not try to scry deeper into her lover's body.

The muscles around Corrin's hands spread up her wrists and to her arms with inexorable movements, rising further forward like a tide on the beach. Corrin feels no pain, only warmth, like a heavy blanket or coat being wrapped around her naked flesh. On instinct, Corrin looks to her feet just in time to see her toes get absorbed in the same way. She breathed whatever air she could in the space as her body slowly began to be absorbed.

Corrin closed her own eyes for the last time. She turned her senses away from her diminishing body and to her own heartbeat. Against Camilla's heavier, stronger pulsations, the source of Corrin's life appeared simpler and less important. The two sounds echoed each other and became more and more alike. Corrin could not tell if she was getting stronger or Camilla was willingly diminishing her strength to be a little more like Corrin. Corrin does not care either way, so caught up in the joy of becoming one with Camilla.

Corrin moaned with rising pleasure as her body slowly faded into the walls around her. Her smile made Camilla, who felt Corrin's motions inside her, smile in turn as the two minds began to join…

* * *

**[FIVE MONTHS LATER]**

**[CASTLE SHIRASAGI THRONE ROOM]**

"Do you feel we made the right choice with our sisters?"

Leo inwardly sighed at this question. From the mouth of King Ryoma, the words carried weight and importance Leo could not ignore. He looked out one of the large windows in the room at the snow-covered landscape beyond. Cold wind pressed against the window as more snow fell to join the mass below. The blanketing of the world, and the many activities of a King, did nothing to comfort Leo's emotions. There were no places outside of his private chambers where he could take the blankets off.

Still, this question required an answer. Leo turned to Ryoma, who stood beside Leo and patiently waited for an answer. Ryoma's hard visage did not completely hide his concern, most exposed in his eyes as he stared at Leo. The winter sunlight cast a few weak beams into the room as if trying to provide its own answer.

"I personally feel we did," Leo finally said. "They were closer to each other than either of us, even when Corrin chose her birth family over us." Leo's eyes grew misty for a moment as the faces of Corrin and Camilla flashed into life. They faded as quickly as the sunlight when a cloud blocked out that great orb in the sky.

"Even so," Ryoma consented to Leo with the telltale signs of a frown, "a part of me yearns to see them again. Remember, Kaze and Silas had said they chose to live apart from the world so that they would stay safe." The prophesized frown came to life as Ryoma then asked, seemingly to himself, "Perhaps the dark ritual Camilla completed was the breaking point for their love?"

"I do not know the magic of love, Ryoma." Leo's honest admittance brought a smile to his face as he added to the fellow monarch, "Neither, I suspect, do you."

"Guilty as charged, Leo," the red-armored ruler admitted with a happy grin. "We are just brothers to them, after all."

"We will have to be more than that if they ever do come back." Leo clasped his fingers together in front of his face as he speculated on how he would have to change if he saw the last of his siblings again. He added the fact, "They both know magic hidden to just about everyone else in the world," to try and convince himself that he could recognize them after potential months, or years, or isolation.

Ryoma's inquisitive question of, "Such as that creature attacking bandits and raiders in Cheve?" shifted Leo's thoughts to a very different bit of information. He replied with a firm, "Exactly," as he lowered his hands back to his sides. The men both noticed the stiff form and mystified glints in the other's eyes. It appeared both monarchs, leaders of powerful nations recovering from terrible conflict, were equally confused as to why _more_ conflict would be happening in so specific a manner.

"None of the scouts I sent into Cheve this past autumn got a good look at the creature," Leo informed as the sunlight flickered back into the room. "They came back tired and with a few injuries from other dangerous wildlife as a parting gift." The spellcaster turned to his warrior-friend and asked, "Has Hoshido fared any better?"

Ryoma shook his head. "We are just as lost as you on this one. We have spoken to merchants of caravans who were 'saved' by the creature, and they say the creature moved like a giant snake and fought like a wrathful angel. So far only travelers in Cheve have seen it, and it has never hurt innocents."

"That's what they've seen," Leo insisted as his worried expression grew very prominent on his young face. "What about unseen acts? Are we looking at a monster as it becomes more powerful?"

"Maybe, maybe." Ryoma does not directly answer the question. "There is still much we don't know."

As a king, Ryoma knew the prospect of a dangerous monster on the loose would cause great panic if it turned into a predator. But he also knew that he should not go out and fix the issue before it became a threat. Right now, this serpentine fighter was _helping_ people in danger from other, less lawful, people. Out in Cheve's jungles life had a different set of rules than behind city walls. Some things were best left alone.

Ryoma gave a simple, "We will have to keep our eyes open."

Leo nodded and answered, "Hopefully we can do so together."

The implied sense of camaraderie was not missed to Ryoma; rather, it was emphasized at one of the greatest differences between himself and Leo. As he had explained it to Sakura a week ago, Leo no longer had any family by his side. His oldest brother and youngest sister were dead, and his two other siblings had chosen to live on the outskirts of the known world for their own safety. The young mage was truly alone in his kingdom, a dark fact that could perpetually grow over years until Leo sought any means to remove the overwhelming isolation.

Ryoma would not see that happen. He sought to cleanse that filthy attitude immediately, the first step being to place a firm hand on Leo's shoulder. Leo gave him a confused glance rather than the sudden glare of a colder ruler.

"You are not alone, Leo," Ryoma told Leo as he would tell anyone in his family. "No matter what you think, we are with you."

Leo could only smile in return, but that was enough to brighten the room to a summer's day. He knew Ryoma's words were true, and that made him happy to hear them.

* * *

The Sun rippled in the sky; telltale bursts of white fire were visible in the sky at a close look. Corrin felt like she could watch this display for hours at a time.

The silver-haired warrior sat on the edge of a large rock that jutted out from the ground at a gradual angle. The stone's warm surface did not burn her naked body, her form in a practiced position suited for meditation and breath control. This tiny piece of Corrin's warrior training seemed obsolete now that she had no body to fight in. Yet, it had held on like a lingering infection, not that this piece of wisdom was a problem to Corrin's mind.

Yes, Corrin reflected, her mind was all she had left now. She shared a body with Camilla, her adopted sister and lover. They worked together to right any wrongs they came across. This had led to a rising body count, the slain judged by the 'sister's' combined mental analysis in the heat of battle. The innocent had been spared, the guilty judged. Corrin had grown used to the sight of spilt blood on many different battlefields, but to be causing it along with someone else was… different.

A pair of warm, smooth hands rubbed Corrin's shoulders. Dexterous fingers pressed into Corrin's skin, easing a path around tight muscles. Corrin leaned her head back into the person's touch, knowing instantly who it was on an instinctual level. There was no resistance against the action.

Corrin gave a pleased, "Hello, my darling," to the woman she knew was behind her.

Camilla hummed as she continued to massage Corrin's shoulders. "Good afternoon, dear," she said as she pressed against a particularly tense spot beneath the smooth skin. Her lower body retained a fully human appearance here. This inner space, a "mindscape" constructed from Corrin and Camilla's combined mental efforts, had no restrictions or limitations on physical forms. This was Corrin's new domain, her home when she was not seeing the outside world through Camilla's eyes.

Corrin loved this place, but it was not perfect. Another of those lingering tiny pieces of her morality concerned what "love" really meant to her now. Did love mean she had to be naked?

"Camilla," Corrin asked her 'sister' as she stood up, "this probably sounds silly, but I think I'm getting used to living without clothes."

Camilla drew her hands back and gave Corrin an amused smile. Such an issue was silly to Camilla's mind, but Corrin had always wondered about the small things. She told Corrin, "That's perfectly fine with me. It's only natural to embrace your body if you choose to."

"It's amazing I still have that choice." Corrin looked to her hands and wiggled each finger individually. They all felt real, alive and healthy. "When you absorbed me," she stated, "I gave myself completely to you." Or, Corrin told herself, she _tried _to. "However, I still feel like the 'me' I was before the absorption. Am I really still me?"

"Of course you're still you, silly!" Camilla said as she hugged Corrin close to her bosom like so many times before. "You are the one I fell in love with. I didn't want _you_ to change. Even as I was absorbing you, I worked hard to keep your memory alive. I want you alive, Corrin. Without you I would probably not be alive now."

Corrin could not argue with this reasoning. The sisters opposed each other in different points, but that difference proved beneficial to them both. An example of this – a group of four bandits attacking a horse-driven cart with two drivers – flashed back into Corrin's thoughts.

The bandits had been weary and hungry, their eyes glinted with maddening looks as they had stepped forward. Daggers, swords and a single bow had intimidated the merchants, the horses killed with wild strokes and a few arrow shots. Camilla had waited until the bandits had gotten around the cart before charging in, her serpentine body able to move along the ground as fast as her old wyvern mount. Corrin had acted as a second set of senses for Camilla, the tactical side to Camilla's battle-fury.

The surprise had been total. All the bandits had fallen with barely any damage dealt to Camilla; a near-perfect ambush. The merchants had been too terrified to thank their savior, but they had understood Camilla's instructions on how to get to a path towards their destination. Corrin had remained silent as she watched them leave through Camilla's eyes, and she noticed the fearful glance the merchants had sent back their way.

The memory dissipated back into ethereal mist. Corrin looked up into Camilla's eyes and saw a perfect copy of her feelings inside those shaded orbs. A momentary glance inward showed the exact same scene she had just reminisced reflected in those eyes, down to the same actions and reactions. This served to hammer Corrin's concern home: she was the same as Camilla in almost every possible way. Why, then was Corrin still able to call herself by her own name?

This question had never gone away since the beginning of Corrin's existence in the "mindscape". Now, finally, Corrin moved to answer it. "So," she asked Camilla, "you mentioned you wanted me 'alive'. Am I still 'alive' now that we have become one?"

Camilla held Corrin tightly. "Do you feel your heartbeat?" she asked, a question Corrin could answer without words. "It beats along with mine, Corrin. Tell me you feel them both."

"I do," Corrin immediately answered after closing her eyes. "Both of our hearts are beating together."

"That means you are alive," Camilla quietly assured Corrin. "It means _we_ are both alive. And we will continue to be like this for as long as we are together."

Corrin sank a bit deeper into her 'sister's' firm and beautiful bosom. "I don't think I would ever want to go back to how things were," she admitted. "Even if I had the chance, I wouldn't do it."

"Of course you wouldn't," Camilla remarked. Corrin's smile widened at how sincere Camilla sounded. But she then detached herself from Camilla's twin mounds and looked into those beautiful eyes, one still hidden by that loving hair.

"There's something else I've been wondering about," the former human started. "Are we… you know…" She hesitated, unable to say the words quickly enough to avoid getting worried by their meaning.

"What is it, darling?" Camilla pressed with a firm stare into Corrin's eyes. Corrin swallowed her guilt down as her lover's gaze pierced through her resistance.

"Are we technically married like this?" Corrin finally asked. "It kind of feels like we are. They always say, "Until death do us part", and I feel with how the absorption happened…"

Camilla's smile slowly faded, recognizing that this question was completely serious. She stepped back from her sister, ample breasts bouncing slightly as she stretched her hands above her head. Corrin stared openly at this display, no blush on her face this time. Camilla felt and enjoyed Corrin's unwavering gaze, knowing that this lust was one visage of Corrin's greater love. The same love that had driven Camilla to the darkest sources possible for an answer.

How ironic. The magic created by the man Camilla had hated from her childhood, the killer of her mother and defiler of her family, had brought her the greatest joy she would probably ever experience.

"Maybe, my beloved," Camilla answered Corrin as she lowered her hands back to her side, "but I like to think it's much deeper than that." She turned her face towards the vibrant Sun and felt its warmth bathe her face with golden light. "We are Eternally Bonded, and that is good enough for me."

* * *

**And that ends the story. Thank you all for reading it. Any reviews and feedback you give will be appreciated by both of us.**

**Until the next story, Draconos is taking off.**


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